Illinois lawmakers introduce new sports bet taxes

Finance News

Illinois lawmakers passed a $55.2 billion state budget for 2026 late Saturday, with new taxes on sports bets.

The $55.2 billion spending plan is supported by $55.3 billion of revenue, including just over $1 billion in new taxes and revenue changes.

The four bills making up the budget and capital spending plan, were part of a flurry of thousands of pages of legislation that went from introduction to passage in the final 48 hours of the legislative session.

Legislators did retain $110 million in the budget for a similar program limited to adults 65 or older without legal status, but Hernandez said it could be the last year of such funding as the state grapples with the looming specter of deep federal funding cuts under President Donald Trump’s administration.

That uncertainty compounded the billion-dollar shortfall lawmakers ended up bridging in part by slapping taxes of a quarter or 50 cents on every online sports wager — a measure that would hit DraftKings and FanDuel just a year after legislators imposed a hefty graduated tax system on the booming industry.

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