Illinois is expected to see quite the push forward in gambling after the Senate lawmakers approved a substantial gambling expansion bill yesterday. With this, legalized sports betting will be coming to the state, along with six new casinos, the option for racinos and slots added to Chicago airports.
Casinos, racetracks, and sports facilities that seat more than 17,000 people would also be eligible to buy sports betting licenses under the bill. Sports betting licenses are expected to range from $3.2 million to $20 million and be offered to both brick-and-mortar facilities and to online operators, with taxes of 15 percent.
It is estimated that the gambling expansion (along with other revenue-raising measures in the Senate Bill 690) could net Illinois more than $12 billion within the next six years along with creating thousands of jobs.
Rush Street Interactive’s President, Richard Schwarz sent out a statement commenting: “Thanks to Governor Pritzker’s leadership, and the weekend overtime hours put in by the General Assembly, we are excited by the legalization of sports betting and the prospect of making history by bringing our innovative and award-winning mobile platform to Illinois.”
Rush Street Interactive has been a key player in delivering sports betting players a massive range of betting options, responsive customer service, and fast payouts in multiple states that have sports betting taking place. Just this past week the company made history in Pennsylvania for being the first to launch an online sportsbook.
“We look forward to bringing the same top quality, award-winning products, and services to players in Illinois where we are headquartered,” said Schwartz.
A large economic difference could also be seen with the billions of dollars anticipated in the construction of the six new casinos throughout the state. That construction has been authorized by the bill in Waukegan, Rockford, Danville, South Suburbs, Williamson County, and downtown Chicago.
Also, under the bill, racetracks have the option to turn into racinos in the state with slot machines and table game installs. A pilot program will also assess sports betting through the Illinois Lottery.
Revenues brought in from the new casinos, the selling of sports betting licenses, and a higher tax on video gambling machines will reportedly go toward funding the vertical components of a long-term capital infrastructure plan, such as state-building renovations.