Legislation
US – Illinois governor signs in gambling expansion
By Phil - 1 July 2019
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has signed Rebuild Illinois into law, the most robust capital plan in Illinois history and the first in nearly a decade, legalising sports wagering, expanding gaming, and providing for the vertical revenues in the Rebuild Illinois Capital plan.
SB 690 authorises licenses for six new casinos – in Chicago, Waukegan, Rockford, the South Suburbs, Williamson County (Walker’s Bluff), and Danville – and authorizes revenue-sharing with local municipalities. New casinos will be allowed up to 2,000 positions immediately, except for Walker’s Bluff, which is capped at 1,200, and the City of Chicago, which will be allowed up to 4,000 positions, including slots at Midway and O’Hare Airports. Horse tracks will be allowed 1,200 positions, and Fairmount 900 positions. Each of these casinos will be privately owned, and the Illinois Gaming Board will have oversight. SB 690 also implements a new tax structure for table games.
Through gaming expansion, Illinois will join 14 other states in legalising sports betting while expanding other new opportunities for gaming, including the authorization of six new casinos that will create thousands of construction jobs and full-time, permanent jobs for Illinoisans and encourage project labour agreements. Gaming expansion will ensure Illinois remains competitive among Midwest states.
It will lead to thousands of new jobs in communities across Illinois and greater economic opportunity for Chicago and northern, central and southern Illinois. It will provide the state and local governments with hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue that will be dedicated to critical investments in infrastructure across the state, including affordable housing, hospitals, universities, and state facilities.
Illinois will allow sports betting at all casinos, racetracks, and sports venues that hold 17,000 people or more a brick-and-mortar license to operate a sportsbook. All licensees will be allowed to go online immediately upon being licensed by the Illinois Gaming Board. For the first 18 months after the first licensee is operating, all accounts must be set up at a licensed gaming facility. Within 540 days of the first license being awarded, the Gaming Board can accept applications for one of three online sports wagering operator licenses. Official league data will be allowed, betting on Illinois college teams will be banned, and a lottery sports wagering pilot program will be created.
SB 690 also imposes a 15 per cent tax on adjusted sports wagering receipts for each month, with an additional 2% tax for wagers in Cook County.
The Illinois Lottery will be granted a master license that will allow lottery sports betting terminals in 2,500 retail locations in the first year and 2,500 in the second year across the state. This license is for 4 years and must be competitively selected.
Sports betting is estimated to generate approximately $58-102 million annually, which will be dedicated to much-needed infrastructure projects across the state, including universities, affordable housing, and hospitals.
“With this historic $45bn capital plan, we’re fixing decades-long problems, creating good jobs, improving communities for the next generation – and doing it together, across party lines,” said Gov. JB Pritzker. “The Rebuild Illinois plan transforms our state’s approach to transportation infrastructure, finally treating our roads, bridges, and railways like 21st century investments and not relics of the past. We’re also making critical investments in our higher education institutions, our crime lab and veterans’ homes, early childhood centers, and expanding broadband access to communities across Illinois. With these investments, we’re creating and supporting hundreds of thousands of new jobs in our state. This is more than an infrastructure plan. This is a job creation plan the likes of which our state has never seen.”
“With this law, communities across the state gain needed economic development and we become more competitive,” said Sen. Terry Link (D-Indian Creek). “This investment in Illinois was overdue. A lot of people have waited a long time for this day to arrive. I’d like to thank my colleagues and Governor Pritzker for making it happen.”
“I am proud to join Governor Pritzker, Senator Link and our many dedicated advocates in communities that will benefit greatly from the gaming expansion package in Senate Bill 690,” said Rep. Bob Rita (D-Blue Island), the lead gaming negotiator for the House Democrats. “This is a testament to bipartisan work in Springfield to create jobs and bring new entertainment and tourism dollars to areas that desperately need it around the state. Thank you to everyone who made this victory possible.”
The Rebuild Illinois package consists of four bills: HB 62, appropriations for capital projects; SB 1939, revenue for horizontal construction; HB 142, bond authorization; SB 690, gaming expansion, including revenue for vertical construction.
The Illinois Gaming Board must conduct a study of the online sports wagering industry and market to determine whether to implement additional measures aimed at promoting diversity. The Board will evaluate race and gender-neutral programs or other methods that may be used to address the needs of minority and women applicants and minority-owned and women-owned businesses seeking to participate in the sports wagering industry. The study must be conducted by December 31, 2019 and published by March 1, 2020.
To ensure supplier diversity efforts are made, the bill requires all licenses under the Sports Wagering act to submit an annual report beginning April 15, 2020 on all procurement goals and actual spending for female-owned, minority-owned, veteran-owned, and small business enterprises in the in the previous calendar year to the Gaming Board. The Gaming board and all licensees must hold an annual, public workshop starting in 2020 on the state of supplier diversity.
City of Chicago’s share of casino proceeds includes an additional privilege tax of 33 per cent of AGR and will be dedicated to their police and fire pension funds, which are among the pressures driving escalating property taxes in Illinois. SB 690 also requires a feasibility study to be conducted by the Illinois Gaming Board.
Municipalities will play a significant role in shaping the establishment of new casinos across the state. In order to secure a license, the corporate authority of the municipality or the county board in which the riverboat or casino will be located must certify that the applicant negotiated in good faith and that mutual agreement was reached on the permanent location of the riverboat or casino, the temporary location of the riverboat or casino, the percentage of revenues that will be shared with the municipality or county, if any, and on any zoning, licensing, public health , or other issues that are within the jurisdiction of the municipality or county. Applicants must also submit documents, resolutions or ordinances, and letters of support from the governing body of the municipality or county where the licensee will be located.
Casinos will create thousands of construction jobs and full-time, permanent jobs, including an estimated 4,000 jobs in Chicago, over 1,500 in Rockford, nearly 2,000 in Walker’s Bluff, and 1,000 in Danville.
This proposal protects small businesses and enables the state and local municipalities to gain much-needed capital revenue by raising the VGT tax by 3 percentage points, from 30 per cent to 33 per cent, in the first year and to 34 per cent in the second year and beyond. The legislation also allows establishments to have up to six video gaming terminals, increases the maximum wager from $2 to $4, elevates the maximum cash award from $500 to $1,199, and authorizes an in-location progressive jackpot up to $10,000. Video gaming will be allowed on the Fairgrounds only during the Illinois State Fair and will be capped at 50 machines.
SB 690 provides needed support to the Illinois horse racing industry, which will create jobs and keep the industry competitive. Fairmount will be able to increase their live racing dates to 100, up from 40.
Bill Miller, President and CEO of the American Gaming Association, said. “As the state rolls out its sports betting framework, it’s critical that Illinois sports teams and other newcomers to the gaming business follow the lead of the state’s licensed gaming operators in advancing responsible gaming practices that ensure protections for consumers, bets and game integrity.”
