Surprise Surprise: Illinois Is Dropping The Ball On Legalizing Sports Gambling By Being Greedy

Daily Herald - So where is Illinois? Fighting, of course, over whose pockets get filled and how the state will waste the money.

Lawmakers are talking about a 25 percent tax on wagers, just a tad higher than the 6.75 in Vegas and three times that of Iowa.

Color me shocked.

Then, there are the license fees to operate a book, which might cost Illinois operators in the tens of millions. Iowa sold them for $100,000.

Add it all up and the cost to the consumer could be enough to keep people using their old-fashioned book where they don’t have to front cash, or stay offshore where the prices will be more attractive.

First thing - That’s a good article by Barry Rozner. For sure a must read if you’re a gambler in the State of Illinois.

Second thing - Of course.

I mean of fucking course Illinois is fucking this up. There’s a lot of shit in this State that you gotta just roll your eyes at because it is what it is, but the fact that they can’t figure out how to push something through that’s going to net them MILLIONS of dollars just because they want even more is completely laughable and so Illinois.

Wanting 25% on wagers compared to Vegas’ take of 6.75% is just such a joke. That’s like the guy who walks into Rick’s Pawn Shop and demands $10,ooo for his ticket stub to the Bartman game (I made this up I have no idea how much that’s worth, if anything at all) when in reality it’s only worth $3,000.

The guy can take his $3,000 and enjoy himself to a nice night in a Wynn penthouse, but he instead would rather be dumb and greedy, and head back to his smelly-carpet stained room at Circus Circus that he paid $29 for.

Get it together already, Pritzker (or whoever is holding this up) or be happy watching all of your residents go to Indiana or Iowa if they want to spend a day at a Sportsbook.

P.S. – Old school bookies are going to be moving into this State by the truck load if we somehow don’t figure this out. Kinda excited for that. Need bookie turf wars all over the joint.

P.P.S – The Sportsbook Director of the Westgate kind of alluded to this on the Dog Walk I had him on a couple weeks ago. Listen here: