Illionois lawmakers have stunned politics observers in the USA as they quietly passed a an alternated legislation proposal in the closing moments on a recent Senate session.
The original bill was set to iregulate Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) operators, however, Illionois senators decided to include online gaming on the legal act as well. The House Bill 479 was passed with 42 votes for and 10 against. If ratified by the Illionois House of Representatives (an extremely unlikely event) it would then have to bypass two previous gaming bills, in order to allow for online gaming in the land of Lincoln.
The proposed gambling legislation states that DFS and iGaming operators will be taxed on gross gaming revenue on the following scale:
- companies that generate over $1m will pay 5%
- operators generating between $1m and $3m will pay 7.5%
- companies that make between $3m and $8m will pay 10%
- DFS and iGaming sites whose revenue exceeds $8m will pay 15% of their total GGR to the state
Furthermore, the bill includes measures to ban players under the age of 21 and professional athletes from participating in any kind of gaming platform, while also outlining the need to help gamblers with problematic behaviour.