The Illinois Lottery is the state’s largest contributor to gambling tax revenue, followed closely by video machines.
However, the revenue generated from sports gambling, which was only legalized in March 2020, is increasing at an astonishing rate.
Total sports gambling revenue just jumped from $380 million in fiscal year 2020-21 to $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2023-24.
At the same time, tax revenues more than tripled, from $57 million to $190 million.
All told, Illinois’ new phenomenon of sports betting generated $456 million in total revenue, both online and at sportsbooks.
These numbers come from a recent report on gambling in Illinois (lotteries, horse racing, casinos, video gambling, and sports betting) prepared by the Legislature’s Committee on Government Forecasting and Accountability.
One of the questions faced by the commission’s analysts was whether gambling in Illinois would ever become excessive and which form of gambling would become mainstream.
“From a national revenue perspective, the ultimate question is whether the tax revenue generated by the ‘winners’ is sufficient to compensate for the tax revenue lost by the ‘losers’ in a highly competitive gaming market,” the analysts said. said.
Seeing a huge increase in sports betting funneled into state coffers, revenue-hungry Illinois elected officials are expected to receive $30 million to $20 million in adjusted gross revenue starting July 1. If the tax exceeds 20%, the state tax rate will increase from 15% to 20% to 40%. 200 million dollars.
Proceeds will go to the state’s Capital Projects Fund.
Sports betting growth in Illinois has been slowed by the pandemic. But since that ended in “late 2020,” business has boomed.
Eleven casinos and two racetracks (renamed “racinos”) operate sportsbooks. Fairmount Park (Fanduel) in Collinsville had the most business in 2023-24, with total revenue of $449.4 million.
East St. Louis’ Casino Queen Inc. (DraftKings) came in second with $387.1 million in revenue.
Additionally, Chicago’s Wrigley Field has a sportsbook.
Figures show that tax revenue generated by the lottery will remain relatively stable from fiscal year 2017 to fiscal year 2024, ranging from roughly $700 million to $900 million.
Video gambling in Illinois became legal in 2014 and has generated $24 million in revenue.
In fiscal year 2024, it contributed $848 million to the national treasury.
Sports gambling is also growing rapidly. In fiscal year 2020, tax revenue of $7 million was generated, which increased 27 times to $190 million in fiscal year 2024.
Among Illinois’ neighboring states, Missouri is the only one that does not approve sports betting. Wisconsin limits sports betting to “tribal property.”
The commission predicted that “the future of sports betting is likely to follow market conditions, as 98 percent of all bets will be placed online in 2024.”
The commission said the “vast majority” (92.5%) of bets are placed on professional sports, with college sports lagging far behind. By 2024, car races and other events will account for “less than 1%” of wagers.
The report states, “Part of this disparity may be due to recently revised laws that limit wagers on Illinois colleges and sports teams and allow in-person gambling at Illinois colleges. There is a gender,” he said.
