Chicago weighs major sports betting tax hike in $16.6 billion budget

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City of Chicago skyline aerial view. Chicago weighs major sports betting tax hike in $16.6 billion budget

Chicago is weighing a $16.6 billion metropolis finances, and one a part of it’s catching the attention of the sports activities betting world.

The proposal would shake up how sports activities wagering is taxed inside metropolis limits. Chicago is planning to considerably increase the tax on income generated from sports activities bets positioned within the metropolis. That potential enhance has already sparked curiosity and concern amongst betting operators and business teams watching carefully to see the way it might have an effect on enterprise within the Windy Metropolis.

The ordinance states: “There’s hereby imposed a tax on every major sports activities licensee working within the Metropolis. The speed of the tax shall be 10.25% of the adjusted gross sports activities wagering receipts from sports activities wagers which might be positioned throughout the Metropolis.” The tax would apply each to wagers positioned at permitted bodily areas and to bets made “over the web or by a cellular utility” when verified as having been positioned inside Chicago.

Chicago mayor is tight-lipped on town’s sports activities betting tax

Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, has mentioned he received’t signal or veto the finances, which implies it could take impact with out his formal approval. Metropolis officers say the upper sports activities wagering tax is supposed to herald new income, with the administration estimating it could generate at the least $26 million a 12 months.

If the measure strikes ahead, town tax would sit on high of current state and native taxes. Based mostly on metropolis estimates, that may push the whole tax price on sports activities betting income generated in Chicago to 32.25%.

Trade teams are already elevating pink flags. Representatives for sportsbooks warn {that a} greater tax price might make Chicago a harder place to do enterprise, doubtlessly main some operators to chop again or depart altogether. Additionally they argue it might drive bettors towards unregulated or unlawful betting choices as a substitute.

In a letter, the Sports activities Betting Alliance warns that “the proposed finances and income ordinance would impose a Metropolis licensing requirement efficient January 1, 2026, but the Metropolis doesn’t presently have a licensing rubric that contemplates on-line sports activities wagering operators.” The alliance argues that with out “outlined phrases, utility requirements, required documentation, and administrative procedures,” operators would have “no significant strategy to adjust to the ordinance upon its efficient date.”

The group is urging town to delay implementation by at the least 180 days, cautioning {that a} non permanent shutdown of authorized on-line sports activities betting in Chicago might undermine town’s income targets and “drive shoppers to on-line platforms that dodge legal guidelines that guarantee shopper safety, age verification, and accountable gaming protections.”

Chicago’s proposed sports activities betting tax is budgetary smoke and mirrors that dangers undermining a authorized market that protects bettors — and will depart town with nothing to indicate for it. https://t.co/CGU0aXOpU1

— Sports activities Betting Alliance (@SBAllianceUS) December 16, 2025

The Sports activities Betting Alliance additionally wrote on X: “Chicago’s proposed sports activities betting tax is budgetary smoke and mirrors that dangers undermining a authorized market that protects bettors — and will depart town with nothing to indicate for it.”

The sports activities betting provision is only one of a number of tax and charge adjustments folded into the finances ordinance, which stretches throughout dozens of chapters of the municipal code. Metropolis council members are anticipated to weigh the potential income increase towards issues about how the change might have an effect on the authorized sports activities wagering market within the nation’s third-largest metropolis.

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