Illinois Online Gambling Efforts Seem to be Over for 2017

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Friday, July 7th, 2017 | Written by Adam Brown

This year, Illinois had been one of the states taking center stage regarding the possibility of online gambling legislation being adopted. Optimism over the issue gained momentum in May after the Senate decided to amend and advance a bill seeking to legalize online poker, online casino and daily fantasy sports, but unfortunately it now appears that like New York, the state of Iowa has run out of time during this legislative session, and will have to wait until next year in order to see any progress on the matter.

A $1.7 Billion Industry

Reported by Chris Grove, an industry analyst, the legalization of online gambling games in Illinois could open a window of opportunity to reap some lucrative revenue for state coffers, and perhaps more so than any other state that is currently considering such a legislative move. According to Grove, if Illinois decides to legalize poker and online casino games, the industry would bring in around $1.722 billion in revenue over the first five years of its operation, with the main percentage of that amount coming from casino games, just like it does in New Jersey where it makes up around 88 percent of the total industry revenue. In contrast, Pennsylvania, which is also considering passing an online gaming piece of legislation, has been projected to rake in $1.479 billion over the same amount of time.

Benefits of Online Gambling

When everything is added up, the recent amendment made to bill H 479 means that over $285 million could be generated by the state in Year 1, rising to $394 million by the end of Year 2. While this is less than what had been originally projected, it still represents a sizeable new revenue stream for Illinois.

In Grove’s report, he also lists a number of other perks following the regulation of daily fantasy sports and online gambling, including an immediate upfront revenue injection of $130 million from 13 unique applicants paying $10 million a piece for a license. Like New Jersey, land-based casinos stand to gain further from being able to offer online gambling products, and as Grove explains “there’s no reason to believe that Illinois would see different results.”

Finally, online gaming regulation in New Jersey has helped to directly create and sustain nearly 3,300 new jobs, and as Illinois has a bigger market, it could mean that more jobs will be created in the state than even the impressive amount recorded in New Jersey.

Future Prospects

As of now, the bill is waiting to be discussed and decided upon in the House, and it can safely be assumed that fixing the budget impasse will be the main priority for the legislative body which is actively in a session. The decision as to whether online gaming can help bring in significant revenue for the state is yet to be determined, though.

Furthermore, it now appears that the window of opportunity to advance the legislation has now ground to a halt for this year’s legislative session, which is now more preoccupied with getting bills through the Senate and House before activity draws to a close. Unfortunately, just one month ago it genuinely looked like online gambling may have made it to being high up on the agenda, but a series of committee meetings failed to make any progress on the issue, leaving the next legislative session as the more likely date for online gambling cause to be taken up once more. Commenting on the situation, John Pappas, Executive director of the Poker Players Alliance, tweeted:

“Wheels have come off in IL for #iGaming & #DFS bill. Folks are regrouping and may try this again in a few weeks.”

Regardless, the passage of a similar gambling bill in the Senate by a vote of 42-10 in May represents a huge step for Illinois, as it signifies that there is indeed a market for online gambling in the state, and this helps create optimism that the bill will pass at some stage in the future.