Illinois State Representative Bob Rita has announced two separate hearings regarding online gambling, to be held on August 22 and October 2 in the state’s capital of Springfield.
Rep. Rita remains one of the primary Illinois House sponsors of State Senate Bill SB0007, an omnibus gambling expansion bill first introduced in January of 2017. SB0007 was one of several gambling-related bills considered in Illinois last year, and it was approved last May on a 33-24-1 vote, before becoming inactive while debated in multiple Illinois House committees.
One of the new hearing projects is about gambling expansion and could add as much as $700 million to the state’s revenue, a sorely needed infusion for one of the US’s most deficit-ridden states.
The second one is about online gambling which includes online poker, sport gambling and other mix of approved gambling services. the challenge is likely be to slice the new market pies evenly without turning the projected gambling expansion into a free-for-all.
“As you navigate through this, when you move one component it moves three others and you gotta carefully navigate through this to put a bill together and we’ve been working diligently on that.” Stated Rep. Rita
