It might not be on par with the Boston Tea Party in terms of historical significance. However, a new bill introduced by Illinois state Rep. Daniel Dedich is also designed to eradicate what he believes to be an unfair and hindering tax.
House Bill 5143 seeks to
amend the Illinois Sports Wagering Act. If passed into law, the bill would eliminate the per-wager tax added to Illinois sports betting in 2025.
The per-wager tax was implemented across Illinois in July 2025. Illinois was the first state to offer legal and regulated sports betting and to institute a per-wager tax system.
Under its terms, all legal and regulated Illinois sportsbooks are currently charged 25 cents per bet on the first 20 million bets placed at their sites. Once that benchmark is hit, the per-bet tax jumps to 50 cents per wager.
Beyond that, Chicago has also implemented a 10.25% municipal tax rate on all sports bets placed within city limits.
Illinois has one of the highest tax rates among states offering legal and regulated sports betting. Online sportsbooks in the state are passing on the cost of the tax to players in the form of surcharges on bets or by implementing a minimum bet limit.
While the bill would eliminate the per-wager tax, several other betting-related incentives would remain on the books. The state’s graduated tax rate on sports betting revenue would stay in place. Required monthly transfers from the Sports Wagering Fund into state budget accounts would also be maintained. And there would be no change in the maintenance of regularly-mandated audit and reporting requirements for all licensed sports betting operators in the state of Illinois.
Should House Bill 1543 be passed into law, the repeal of the per-wager tax on sports betting in Illinois would go into effect on July 1, 2026.
The per-wager tax is impacting sports betting in Illinois
The impact that this per-wager tax rate is taking on the legal and regulated sports betting market in Illinois is easily measured. And the news is not good for the online betting sites.
The Sports Betting Alliance, a lobby group representing several prominent online sportsbooks in the US market, pulled data from the Illinois Gaming Board’s
November 2025 Sports Wagering Report
that shows Illinois sports betting is dipping well below national averages.
Bets placed in November of last year were down 15.4% from comparable November 2024 numbers. There were 6.1 million fewer bets placed in November 2025 than were wagered a year earlier.
Similar 15% dropoffs in wagering were evident in data from both September and October of last year.
SBA representatives argued that Illinois sports bettors are taking their action to illegal offshore sports betting sites to avoid the tax hike.
“A concerning trend is unfolding in Illinois, with millions of bets disappearing from the legal market,” the SBA said in a statement. “Illinois’ recent tax hikes are undercutting the protections of the legal market, sending players to cheaper, riskier, and predatory illegal options instead.”
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