A new piece of legislation that seeks to bring some changes to the gambling laws of the state of Illinois has now been sent to the desk of Governor J.B. Pritzker for further approval.
The proposed measure has been unveiled as a follow-up bill from a previous piece of legislation called House Bill 521 that officially received Governor Pritzker’s blessing in 2019. The bill provides businesses that hold a sports betting license with the opportunity to legally be able to take sports wagers on a certain college team in the state of Illinois, in case the bet is made in person at a land-based facility and not online.
State Senator Bill Cunningham has spoken of the measure that seeks to provide local residents with the chance to place bets on state college sports. He confirmed that the proposed bill would temporarily allow Illinois punters to bet on state collegiate teams, as long as the bet was placed in person and was not related to a performance of an individual athlete.
The proposed measure, which is called House Bill 3136 and is now heading for Governor Pritzker’s approval, is also aimed at bringing some changes to the implementation of the so-called “push tax”. The aforementioned tax would prevent video gaming machines from being taxed by any establishment. Furthermore, businesses that implemented a push tax before November 1st, would be allowed to retain their tax but would not be given the opportunity to boost that tax at a later stage.
Illinois Fire Protection Agencies to Be Able to Organize Raffles as Charitable Events
The proposed House Bill 3136 seeks to bring other changes, too. The new legislative measure that is soon to be taken into consideration by Governor Pritzker would allow Illinois firefighters to organize raffles as charitable events. However, in order to do so, they would have to receive a charitable raffle permit first.
As explained by State Senator Cunningham, the new piece of legislation would provide fire protection agencies and their associations to hold raffles to gather some money for good causes. In addition, under the provisions of the bill, the Wintrust Arena would become eligible to get a sports betting license, making the iconic sports venue and the Chicago Sky basketball team that plays there part of the clubs that are eligible to offer in-person sports betting in retail outlets.
As mentioned above, the proposed gambling bill is currently waiting for Governor J.B. Pritzker to give it the nod. If he signs the piece of legislation, the measure is set to go into effect immediately.
At beginning of November saw the General Assembly pass a comprehensive gaming package during the fall veto session, with the state of Illinois trying to capitalize on the constant increase of the US sports betting industry. At the time, the amendment to House Bill 3136 got the necessary support in both chambers. The main sponsor of the proposed bill in the House, Representative Robert Rita, explained that some restrictions were extremely important in order for the piece of legislation to get the support it needs to so it is given the green light.
