The Illinois Gaming Board recently announced that British bookmaker Bet365 (check our Bet365 Review) has been granted a retail and mobile sports betting license to operate in the Land of Lincoln.
The More the Merrier
With the announcement that Bet365 will join the mobile and retail sports betting market, there will soon be 15 digital sportsbooks in Illinois pending satisfaction of regulatory protocols and procedures. The British bookmaker has partnered with Walker’s Bluff Casino Resort, where it will also house a retail sportsbook.
Illinois will be the 12th state in which bet365 operates, with the others being Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The company is also licensed and currently operates in Ontario as well.
Although the license was granted, Bet365 is not expected to launch until 2025 when all the regulatory approvals have been earned. Therefore, the launch will likely come after the NFL playoffs and perhaps even the Super Bowl slated for Sunday, February 9, 2025.
Tax Hike Doesn’t Slow Competition
Much was made of Illinois increasing the tax rate on its mobile sportsbooks, which became effective in July. The rate went from 15% on all adjusted gross revenues to a progressive tax at the following rates:
- $30 million or less of adjusted gross revenue: 20%
- $30-50 million or less of adjusted gross revenue: 25%
- $50-100 million or less of adjusted gross revenue: 30%
- $100-200 million or less of adjusted gross revenue: 35%
- $200 million or more of adjusted gross revenue: 40%
“This budget builds on years of economic momentum that is revitalizing communities up and down the state of Illinois,” Governor JB Pritzker said. “We are on a trajectory of sustainable long-term growth.”
The tax hike was greeted with immediate backlash by the Sports Betting Alliance, an industry mouthpiece formed by industry leaders DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, and Fanatics Sportsbook.
“Sportsbooks across the industry will have no choice but to reevaluate their level of investment and participation in the state should this become law,” SBA president Jeremy Kudon said. “Rather than heeding the outcry from tens of thousands of residents who vocally opposed more than doubling sports betting taxes, the Illinois Senate advanced a budget tonight that would make Illinois sports betting tax the second highest in the country and counterproductively penalizes sports betting operators who invested millions into the local economy and created jobs in the state.”
However, not much has changed since the tax increase, as none of the major sportsbooks have pulled the plug on operating in the lucrative Illinois sports betting market. The carrot dangling is the possibility of iGaming legislation being passed, which would be an enormous boon to the sportsbooks currently operating and those seeking to gain access.
