The Illinois House of Representatives voted for concurrence on a series of amendments to House Bill 4951 in the early hours of Wednesday morning, including one that would replace the state’s current 15% flat tax rate on adjusted gross operator sports betting revenue to a progressive one ranging from 20% to 40%.
HB 4951 passed despite strident criticisms from the Sports Betting Alliance, which represents mobile operators FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, and Fanatics Sportsbook. It now heads to the desk of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who is expected to sign it into law. Pritzker originally called to raise the tax rate to a flat 35% in February when he unveiled his $51.3 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2025, but the progressive tax rate gained traction when introduced Saturday.
The revenue bill moved forwarded by a 60-47 margin, and it included some political theater of the absurd as three votes were required to pass it. Prior to the first vote, Republican Rep. Dan Ugaste called for a verification vote, which requires all representatives to be in their chairs and vote with their switches. It was determined through an affirmative vote roll call that Democrat Rep. Allen Ortiz did not participate, which meant the measure did not pass despite the majority.
Scenes from the floor as Dems scramble to find 60 votes for a temporarily failed revenue package. pic.twitter.com/ZyhCZSUgCL