Sports Betting Alliance of Illinois warns of illegal online gambling expansion

Date:2025-08-29 02:58:48 Category:US Views:1 Comment:0

CHICAGO, Ill. (WTWO/WAWV)— The Sports Betting Alliance of Illinois expressed worry Thursday about the risks of an expanded illegal online gambling scene after a growing number of companies have begun to pass the Illinois per-wager sports betting tax onto customers.

This announcement comes ahead of the NFL season kick-off, which is the most popular sports betting season. Illinois passed its per-wager tax, the first of its kind in the U.S., in the final days of the spring legislative session, and it is being implemented at several sports betting companies ahead of September.

According to the Sports Betting Alliance news release, data shows that the tax will have the highest impact on recreational betters making small-dollar wagers. The release also states that more than half the bets placed in Illinois are $5 or less. The alliance is concerned that this will drive consumers to the illegal and predatory online sports betting market.

“For the second year in a row, legal sports betting companies in Illinois have been forced to respond to a state tax, while the illegal online gaming operators salivate at the opportunity to win customers from the legal market,” said Sports Betting Alliance of Illinois spokeswoman Maura Possley. “The Illinois per-wager tax not only harms small-dollar, recreational consumers the most, but it will send more people to the illegal and predatory online gaming market that is growing without any oversight or consumer protections and zero accountability.”

The release states that with the new per-wager tax coupled with Illinois’ 2024 graduated tax, taxes being paid by legal sports betting customers are the highest in the United States. The release states that this will lead consumers to unregulated, offshore operators that offer cheaper sports betting alternatives without any consumer protections like age verification and oversight.

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In August, 50 bipartisan state attorneys general across the U.S. urged the Department of Justice to take action against the growing illegal gambling market because of the impact on consumers.

“These unlawful platforms expose residents—particularly young people and vulnerable adults—to fraudulent schemes and highly addictive gambling without any oversight or accountability. Moreover, these operations undercut state-regulated markets and have been linked to money laundering, human trafficking, and other nefarious conduct,” the attorneys general wrote in their letter.

On August 19, the Better Business Bureau reported a growing number of online illegal gambling sites are scamming consumers’ money after more than 10,000 complaints were sent in from 2022 to the present.

“With billions of dollars flowing through this global industry, a risky underbelly of pseudo-gambling, illegal gambling, and scams has developed,” according to the BBB. “Because of the sophistication of these impostors, bad actors and scammers, it can be hard for consumers to tell the difference between a legitimate bookkeeper, casino or betting company and those seeking to deceive or steal from the public.”

A list of company changes implemented since the state’s new tax is listed below: