How much is enough?
A lot of people aren’t happy about it, but there’s no question that legal gambling in Illinois is a big and booming business.
A report recently released by the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting & Accountability states that the state collected more than $2 billion in tax revenues during the 2023-24 fiscal year, a 4.8 percent increase over the previous fiscal year.
That’s not to suggest, of course, that gambling revenues are the solution to the state’s serious financial woes. Although impressive, they represent a small percentage of the state’s current $53 billion general operating budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
What’s striking is the continuing popularity of various forms of gambling — including sports wagering, video gambling and the state lottery.
The idea of getting something for nothing appears to have almost universal appeal, even if some forms of gambling are more popular than others.
Horse racing in Illinois remains on the critical list.
In 1981, it generated $73 million in tax revenue for the state. Last year, that number totaled just $6 million. The last year its tax revenues generated double figures was 2006, when it produced $11 million.
At the same time, casino gambling continues to lose business to more-convenient forms.
Illinois casinos generated $158 million in state tax revenue last year. They produced $699 million in 2005, and it’s been downhill ever since.
“The most significant increases have come from the video-gaming and sports-wagering industries,” the commission’s report states. “Other new projects are expected to expand gaming further including the development of three permanent casinos in Illinois, one of which is to be a 4,000-position Chicago casino.”
Video gambling became legal in 2013, generating $24 million in state tax revenue. Last year, with the machines having proliferated throughout the state, video gambling generated $848 million in tax revenue.
Sports wagering became legal in 2020, generating $7 million in state tax revenue. Last year, it produced $190 million.
Most popular of all, however, is the state lottery, which started in 1975 and produced a puny $55 million. Last year, it generated $886 million.
Thanks to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Illinois has a big stake in legal gambling. During his first term, he persuaded legislators to approve a massive expansion that has been partially but not yet fully implemented.
Clearly, he was acting in response to public demand for games of chance, and the results have been staggering.
No one, however, should consider this new revenue source to be a windfall.
Money spent gambling is money not available to be spent in other forms of commerce.
The question, of course, is how big is the gambling pie? Video gambling already is cannibalizing the business at casinos and racetracks.
The state is clearly betting there’s more revenue to be had, and so far at least, that’s proved to be a winning wager.
This post was originally published on here
