City Officials Contemplate Imposing a 50-Cent Tax on each Sports Wager in Chicago
Chicago Proposes Additional $0.50 Tax on Sports Bets
Chicago is considering a new tax on sports betting within city limits, aiming to generate approximately $40 million annually to help cover a projected $1.1 billion budget deficit in 2026. The proposed tax of $0.50 per bet would be added to the existing state levy, potentially making total levies on Chicago bets higher than those elsewhere in Illinois.
The proposed tax, if implemented, would apply uniformly to every wager placed within Chicago city limits. In contrast, the state of Illinois implemented its sports betting tax on July 1, 2025, with operators paying $0.25 per bet on the first 20 million wagers they accept and $0.50 per bet beyond that threshold.
The city's finance team believes that there is no legal prohibition preventing the implementation of such a measure. However, the exact impact of the tax on the sports betting industry in Chicago is yet to be determined.
It is worth noting that the city currently does not tax any online wagers, which account for 98% of bets in the state. The implementation of this tax in Chicago would add to the existing levy in Illinois.
The proposed date for the launch of the levy is January 1, 2026. However, the decision on whether to implement the tax is yet to be finalized by Chicago's finance team and city officials.
The sportsbooks, such as DraftKings and FanDuel, which started collecting the state levy from September 2025, would decide whether to pass on this entire charge to the end customer. Some bettors have responded to the news of further taxes by expressing intentions to go outside city limits to wager or use offshore platforms.
Only Wrigley Field's DraftKings Sportsbook falls into the category of retail sports bets, with the total contribution last year amounting to $20,500. The reaction to the state's introduction of a levy on sports bets was met with displeasure by many bettors.
[1] Chicago Proposes Additional Tax on Sports Bets to Address Budget Shortfall (2025) [2] Illinois Sports Betting Tax: How Much Do Operators Pay? (2025) [5] Sportsbooks Raise Minimum Bet Amounts to Offset Increased Costs Due to Illinois Tax (2025)
- The proposed $0.50 tax on sports bets in Chicago could potentially have an impact on the local sports betting industry, prompting some bettors to consider placing their bets outside city limits or using offshore platforms to avoid the increased costs, as discussed in "Sportsbooks Raise Minimum Bet Amounts to Offset Increased Costs Due to Illinois Tax" (2025).
- Although the city's finance team believes that the implementation of the additional sports betting tax is legally permissible, the exact impact of this tax on the overall business and finance landscape within Chicago remains uncertain, as highlighted in "Chicago Proposes Additional Tax on Sports Bets to Address Budget Shortfall" (2025).
