“Overtaxing legal betting will send bettors either outside state lines, city lines, or to the predatory illegal market and have profound negative implications for the legal market and also future tax revenues here.”

The choice is clear: Illinois can preserve a stable, regulated marketplace by maintaining a tax structure that keeps operators and players in the legal market. Pushing players to bet more and shifting them to the black market are not desirable outcomes for anyone.

Chicago fans are now confronting the possibility of a second tax on wagers made in city limits.

High taxes push consumers toward offshore and illegal markets. If bettors feel squeezed by bad odds, fees and disappearing perks they may return to the unregulated platforms that are not burdened by punitive regulations.

If sports gamblers leave these sites and use the black market, it would undermine the Illinois’ revenue goals.