CHICAGO – As Illinois sports fans continue to be impacted by the state’s new, first-of-its-kind sports betting tax only weeks into the most popular season for sports betting, Chicago fans are now confronting the possibility of a second tax on wagers made in city limits.
Under a newly released report by Chicago’s Financial Future Task Force, city residents would be charged an additional 50 cents per wager. It would be delivered on top of the state’s per-wager tax, which was enacted July 1 and implemented by most sports betting companies on Sept. 1. If adopted, a $1 bet placed in Chicago would come with a 100% tax rate of $1.
The Task Force proposal comes as Illinois sports fans react with alarm over the state tax. With more than half of bets placed in Illinois at $5 or less, the uproar among fans highlights how the tax harms small bettors the most. The tax also risks more fans entering the cheaper, illegal market, which is a growing concern of the state’s top consumer advocates: the Illinois Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau. Unregulated, offshore operators offer cheaper sports betting alternatives for consumers, without any protections – including age verification – and without any oversight, not to mention no tax revenue whatsoever.
Illinois residents have voiced their opposition to the state’s per-wager tax, sending over 100,000 contacts to their lawmakers to date and flooding social media with angst over the tax. The Mayor and City Council should not double down on this bad idea in Chicago.
Illinois sports bettors react to new state tax
A Nasty Surprise for Sports Bettors in Illinois