The Illinois Gaming Board’s website most recent update Friday included Betfair, the parent company of FanDuel, applying for a sports facility sports wagering license for the United Center in Chicago.
Per the IGB’s website, the application was submitted Aug. 10. It is the first application submitted for a sports facility sports wagering license in Illinois and makes the United Center the license designee. There is no timeline for vetting and approval by the IGB, which means the two-story lounge that has been under construction since spring at the arena — home of the NBA’s Bulls and NHL’s Blackhawks — will likely open during the upcoming season without betting kiosks or windows and operate only during game events.
Should the application be approved, the United Center would be the third arena in the U.S. to feature sports wagering, along with Capital One Arena (Caesars Sportsbook) in Washington, D.C., and the Footprint Center in Arizona. The latter, home to the Phoenix Suns and Mercury, is also run by FanDuel. The United Center book would also be the seventh sports venue overall, joining Chase Field (Caesars) and State Farm Stadium (BetMGM) in Phoenix, and Nationals Park (BetMGM) and Audi Field (FanDuel) in the nation’s capital.
Though the United Center was eligible at the state level to be a license designee with the 2019 gaming expansion bill that legalized sports betting in Illinois, being allowed to offer retail wagering in the city required the Chicago City Council to pass an ordinance in December that lifted a home-rule ban on such activities. That ordinance included a 2% tax on revenue from wagers placed at those locations, in addition to the 15% collected by the state and 2% for Cook County on all wagers placed within the county limits.