Illinois online sports betting operators could be facing another per-bet tax if the Chicago City Council acts on a suggestion.
The tax was brought up at a subcommittee on revenue meeting on July 21. Chicago’s Deputy CFO Noor Shaikh briefly touched on the tax at the three hour, 44 minute mark to explain the tax, starting by explaining the per-bet tax that went into effect in Illinois on July 1 as part of the state budget.
“What we looked at is what if the city extends a similar 50-cent per wager for all the [online] wagers placed in Chicago,” Shaikh said. “And we are estimating that this could raise anywhere from $40 million to $41 million over the next three years.”
Representatives from the Chicago City Council did not respond to LSR by publication.
Chicago per-bet tax not officially on the table
The idea of a 50-cent per bet tax for online bets coming from Chicago was not formally suggested. The tax was mentioned toward the end of the meeting when ideas received by members of the city council were presented.
Shaikh explained that Chicago does get tax dollars from sports betting, but only 2% from retail bets placed Wrigley Field. That amounted to $20,500 in revenue for 2024.
This additional fee would bring Chicago an estimated $40 million in taxes in 2026, $40.6 million in 2027 and $41.2 million in 2028.
That is a small drop in the bucket for Chicago, which had a spending plan of $17.1 billion for 2025, though various taxes and fees were added to close a $982.4 million gap.
Cook County gets a cut
According to Illinois’ Sports Wagering Act, every county with more than 3 million gets 2% of the adjusted gross receipts that are placed within that county.
Chicago’s Cook County estimated it would receive $12.45 million in sports betting taxes for fiscal 2025, which began Dec. 1, 2024. That projection rose to nearly $13.6 million after factoring in results from December through April.
Cook County projects $11.2 million in revenue from that sports betting tax in fiscal 2026.
How many bets placed in Chicago?
The slide showed total number of bets for 2024 broken down by in-person vs. online sports betting.
There were 366.1 million online sports bets placed in Illinois during 2024, which is nearly 99% of all bets placed in the state.
The city’s estimate suggests that 80 million bets will be placed within Chicago city limits during 2026, which would have accounted for 21.8% of all bets in 2024.
