A bill calling for a report into the estimated revenue generated from legal online casino gaming within Illinois has been filed to the state’s Senate.
Senate Resolution 285 would show how much money would have been made had a privilege tax been introduced for online gaming in February 2020.
The report is also urged to include projected revenues with a privilege tax imposed on AGR’s at rates of 12%, 15% and 16%, as well as 20% of any AGR in excess of $25m.
Furthermore, the report “should provide additional revenue estimates where the definition of adjusted gross revenue excludes the dollar amount of non-cashable vouchers, coupons, or promotions redeemed by participants on an Internet gaming platform.”
A bill to legalize online gaming within the state was filed in February of this year, and operators such as Golden Nugget Online Gaming have already made moves to gain access to the Illinois online casino market.
Internet gaming is estimated to have generated $402.7m during the second quarter of 2020 in the states that offered such a market at the time: Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
A statement in the bill’s text read: “The COVID-19 pandemic made many Illinoisans wary of leaving their homes for nonessential activities and forced many casinos to close their doors for the safety of their patrons and employees.
“Internet gaming is partially immune to pandemics due to the remote nature of this type of gaming; and
states with legal and available internet gaming, such as New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, were able to generate revenue during the Covid-19 pandemic.”