Illinois Casinos Still Trying To Get On Same Page On Internet Gambling
The casinos unanimously support legalizing internet gaming. They have pushed for legalization since May.
Tom Swoik, executive director of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association (ICGA), tells Play Illinois that Caesars Entertainment drafted the bill introduced last week by Rep. Bob Rita.
He explained that a bill needed to be put on the books prior to the Feb. 19 deadline to file legislation. That buys casinos more time to work out the details.
& ldquo, Swoik said,” They wanted to get something out there so we can continue the discussion and hopefully reach consensus on exactly what should be in the bill.”
Illinois casinos’ opinions on virtual gambling
The ICGA represents nine of the 10 casinos in the state. The only outlier is Par-A-Dice Casino in East Peoria.
According to Swoik, games had been meeting every week for the previous month to discuss the terminology used in online casinos.
According to Swoik, & ldquo, I don’t believe they are very different from what I understand. It & rsquo, & ldquo is nothing significant. I haven’t heard anyone get annoyed with anyone else over it, to be honest. & rdquo,
Swoik wouldn’t go into detail about the problems that cause games to struggle. He did, however, earlier point out one point of contention: the quantity of skins. Rita & rsquo’s bill has a maximum of three skins and an nbsp.
Another issue figures to be in-person registration, which was contentious for sports betting. This bill does mandate in-person registration for the first six months, which is curious since the Caesars properties aren’t exactly located in city centers. Caesars operates two Harrah’s casinos in Joliet and Metropolis.
Illinois casinos don’t always need to believe on every aspect of a bill’s passage. The 2019 sports betting language was no agreed upon by all of them.
They may not reach a complete understanding, but I believe they did, Swoik said.
Online gaming might give casinos the boost they need.
In the COVID – 19 time, Swoik is optimistic that lawmakers may recognize the need for virtual casino gambling to advance the sector.
Illinois lost out on $200 million in casino gambling tax revenue last fiscal year due to casino closures.
Games were shut down for the entire month of December, but they did fairly well with online sports wagers, according to Swoik. & ldquo, The state and casinos have a chance to make money from online gaming. I believe that the time is right to do it right away because if things go on and there’s another flare-up and games have to shut down once more, everyone loses. & rdquo,
In Gov. JB Pritzker’s recent budget address, he proposed $700 million in cuts to state agencies and $932 million in cuts to corporate and business tax loopholes.
Gambling is obviously not going to pay off the gap or retirement debt, but it is a potential source of new revenue, and every little bit helps, according to Swoik. One of the main causes for the gaming expansion bill’s passage in 2019 is & ldquo, That & rsquo. & rdquo,
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