•April 3, 2019•

By Grant Morgan
Capitol News Illinois

Legislative momentum is in place to bring sports betting to Illinois.
But it will take weeks for all interested parties to get their opinions to lawmakers.
That process started Thursday, with more than three hours of testimony during a House Revenue and Finance Committee hearing.
Committee members balanced the opinions of various representatives of the state’s gambling, horse racing, sports and technology industries.
Industry representatives, meanwhile, were tasked with choosing the best of five different plans to legalize sports betting in the state.
Those plans take shape in five separate amendments added to Rep. Michael Zalewski’s (D-Riverside) gaming bill, House Bill 3308.
They can be separated into two categories. Four plans would have legalized sports gambling overseen by the Illinois Gaming Board. One would put all sports betting in the state under the Illinois Lottery’s authority.
Advocates for the Lottery plan, led by Rep. Lisa Hernandez (D-Cicero), say it could benefit the more than 10,000 small retailers, such as convenience stores and gas stations that already sell Lottery tickets.
But the plan does not allow for hugely popular online or mobile betting, and would limit the types of bets that can be made.
For example, the lottery system could not accommodate in-game sports betting like whether a basketball player makes a free throw, or whether a football player gains a certain number of yards.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.