Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has tasked her finance team with figuring out ways to make up a projected $1.1bn budget shortfall in 2026.
One of their suggestions is to implement a $0.50 tax on every sports bet that someone places from within city limits. It would be up to the sportsbooks to decide if they want to pass on this entire charge to the end customer or not.
would add to the similar levy that the state of Illinois implemented as of July 1, 2025
This would add to the similar levy that the state of Illinois implemented as of July 1, 2025, with major sportsbooks like DraftKings and FanDuel starting to collect this charge from customers from September. The tax amounts to $0.25 on the first 20 million wagers each operator accepts, before doubling from there onwards.
The finance team believes that the levy could boost annual revenue by about $40m. While the city does not currently tax any online wagers, which make up 98% of bets in the state, there is a 2% fee on all retail sports bets. Only Wrigley Field’s DraftKings Sportsbook falls into this category, with the total contribution last year totaling just $20,500:
The finance team believes that there’s no legal prohibition that would prevent the city from introducing such a measure. They want to launch it from January 1, 2026.
Many bettors were displeased wwith the state’s introduction of a levy, and some responded to the news of further taxes by claiming they will just go outside city limits to wager or use offshore platforms.
