Emanuel Proposes Federal Sports Betting Tax
Jesse M. Cox Published 16/04/2026
Rahm Emanuel is expected to announce his candidacy for the Democratic Presidential nomination for the 2028 federal election. And should he succeed in his quest to one day reside in the Oval Office, it could be bad news for the U.S. online sports betting industry.
The former mayor of Chicago and long time confidant of former U.S. President Barack Obama, Emanuel is floating the idea of imposing a 10% federal tax on online sports betting if he were elected to the White House. He’d impose a similar 10% levy on prediction market sites and casino gambling.
Emanuel put forth the blueprint for this plan while speaking at a Wall Street Journal Live event in Washington, D.C. His idea would be to use the tax revenue garnered from gambling to fund science and technology research.
Money raised would be directed toward such initiatives as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, fusion energy, life sciences and national security technology. The objective is to enable the USA to compete with and beat China in these emerging fields. Emanuel estimates this 10% gambling tax would create annual revenue of $30 billion to $50 billion, which would all be funneled into the science and technology fund.
The betting tax would be one of Emanuel’s bold initiatives to help the USA rebound
Citing the numerous cuts to scientific research made by the Trump Administration, Emanuel believes that the Democrats need to generate bold initiatives as they seek to reclaim control of the federal purse strings.
“We’re stagnant and worse than stagnant under President Trump,” Emanuel said. “We’re cutting the NIH [National Institutes of Health] and the National Science Foundation. To me, raise a 10% fee. It goes into this Innovation Fund.
“I’m tired of people betting against America. I want to bet on America. I want to not reward gambling. I want to actually reward the entrepreneur.
“I’m talking about a specific innovation fund that keeps America beating China rather than going to second place against China. And that’s how you sell this.”
It would require that legislation be passed by the federal government for Emanuel’s plan to become law.
State governments are the regulators of sports betting in the U.S. market
When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2018 that all states were eligible to offer sports betting, control of the licensing, regulating, and taxation of sportsbooks was given to state governments.
There has been recent concern in the industry that the federal government might seek a piece of the sports betting pie. Leading sports betting sites such as DraftKings and FanDuel have begun lobbying efforts at the federal level. The sports betting sites are convinced that Emanuel’s idea is going to become a more widespread notion among federal government officials.
Interestingly, Brandon Johnson, the current mayor of Chicago, imposed a 10.25% levy on all sports bets placed within city limits earlier this year. This municipal tax is being challenged in the Illinois State Legislature. The state government is arguing that as regulators of sports betting, they are the only ones allowed to tax sports betting.
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