The Senate gutted a bill intended to improve the responsible gambling messages within Illinois’ online sports betting applications and replaced it with new Illinois Lottery game language.
Bill Cunningham originally filed HB1508, but with a simple change to the language. The bill mandated that Illinois online sportsbooks display pop-up ads after each ten bets placed by a user. These advertisements provided information on responsible and problem gambling in Illinois.
A Senate amendment changed the wording to:
The [Illinois Gaming Board] requires licensed online sports betting operators to display, at least every hour, a message informing the user of the time since they logged on, the amount wagered since they logged on, as well as hyperlinks and phone numbers for gambling addiction help.
The bill was passed by the Senate without any opposition, and it was then sent to the House with a 54-0 unanimous vote. A House amendment, however, literally removed the entire bill text and replaced it by a piece legislation that would have allowed for the issuance and distribution of new lottery scratch off games to benefit charities, community groups, and causes such as multiple sclerosis, homelessness, cancer research and the United Negro College Fund.
Illinois Lottery is now allowed to release no more than 10 scratch-off specialty games. The net revenues generated by the games will be divided equally amongst the designated special causes.
The House approved the bill on Friday, 78-30. It was then sent to the Senate to be approved. The Senate also voted in favor of the measure by a 35-18 vote, but only after removing Sen. JilTracey as a cosponsor.
Now, the bill is headed to Governor JB Pritzker for signature. The bill is now headed to Gov. JB Pritzker for signature, with no remnants from its original intention to address the problem gambling issues of the state. Brianne doura-Schawohl pointed out on Twitter that the bill would have been a first in the nation for online sports betting, especially since Illinois has a higher than average rate of problem gambling.
It is the second instance this legislative session that a bill was hijacked, gutted and replaced with new language to expand gambling. Georgia legislators used a bill celebrating children’s soap-box derby races earlier this year to make an last ditch effort for legalizing sports betting.
