Illinois lawmakers sponsored five different sports betting bills during the recently ended legislative session. The measures ranged from land-based to mobile and internet wagering, via riverboat casinos and/or racetracks, each with its own regulations, taxes and fees.
A bill sponsored by former National Football League player state Senator Napoleon Harris included the integrity fee promoted by the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball. Major league sports officials testified in support of Illinois sports betting, but only if it happens under Harris’ bill–the only one that includes the leagues’ integrity fee. Observers said that’s not surprising since Illinois has four professional sports league franchises, including two MLB teams, and Chicago is one of the top U.S. sports cities.
State Rep. Robert Rita also revived a bill allowing a casino in Chicago, but he tried to make it into an omnibus expansion with placeholder articles to legalize sports betting, daily fantasy sports and online gambling. The House Gaming Subcommittee scheduled a pair of hearings to revisit the bill. However, the new articles had no chance of being included. Rita’s outline indicated, “Leave internet gaming, fantasy sports and sports betting sections blank to be resolved later.” The committee voted 5-4 to advance the amended bill—one vote short of sending it on to the Senate floor. Not one of the five original sports betting measures has passed out of committee.
Bills limiting sports betting to casinos are opposed by racetracks, and vice versa. Video gaming retailers oppose any measure that expands gambling, arguing if people can gamble on their phones, they won’t drive to the slot parlor.
State Rep. Lou Lang, who filed the first sports betting bill this year, said, “I learned that some states were so much in a hurry to pass a law on this that they screwed it up. We’re not going to screw it up. It’s more important that we do it right than do it fast.”
”A recent Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette poll found only 21 of 55 legislators support, or lean toward supporting, sports betting.
But lawmakers could reconsider sports betting if Governor Bruce Rauner vetoes the legislature’s proposed budget and calls a special session this month. It’s a possibility since many of them would like to allocate more gambling revenue to existing shortfalls.
Lawmakers also could hold off on sports betting legislation until after the November elections. That would give them about six months to craft an acceptable bipartisan compromise bill.
