Chicago is weighing a $16.6 billion metropolis funds, and one a part of it’s catching the attention of the sports activities betting world.
The proposal would shake up how sports activities wagering is taxed inside metropolis limits. Chicago is planning to considerably elevate the tax on income generated from sports activities bets positioned within the metropolis. That potential enhance has already sparked curiosity and concern amongst betting operators and business teams watching intently to see the way it may have an effect on enterprise within the Windy Metropolis.
The ordinance states: “There may be hereby imposed a tax on every main sports activities licensee working within the Metropolis. The speed of the tax shall be 10.25% of the adjusted gross sports activities wagering receipts from sports activities wagers which can be positioned inside the Metropolis.” The tax would apply each to wagers positioned at accepted bodily areas and to bets made “over the web or by a cell software” when verified as having been positioned inside Chicago.
Chicago mayor is tight-lipped on town’s sports activities betting tax
Mayor Brandon Johnson, a Democrat, has mentioned he received’t signal or veto the funds, which suggests it could take impact with out his formal approval. Metropolis officers say the upper sports activities wagering tax is supposed to usher in new income, with the administration estimating it could generate no less than $26 million a yr.
If the measure strikes ahead, town tax would sit on high of present state and native taxes. Based mostly on metropolis estimates, that may push the full tax fee on sports activities betting income generated in Chicago to 32.25%.
Business teams are already elevating pink flags. Representatives for sportsbooks warn {that a} larger tax fee may make Chicago a harder place to do enterprise, doubtlessly main some operators to chop again or depart altogether. In addition they argue it may drive bettors towards unregulated or unlawful betting choices as an alternative.
In a letter, the Sports activities Betting Alliance warns that “the proposed funds and income ordinance would impose a Metropolis licensing requirement efficient January 1, 2026, but the Metropolis doesn’t at the moment have a licensing rubric that contemplates on-line sports activities wagering operators.” The alliance argues that with out “outlined phrases, software requirements, required documentation, and administrative procedures,” operators would have “no significant strategy to adjust to the ordinance upon its efficient date.”
The group is urging town to delay implementation by no less than 180 days, cautioning {that a} non permanent shutdown of authorized on-line sports activities betting in Chicago may undermine town’s income targets and “drive shoppers to on-line platforms that dodge legal guidelines that guarantee shopper safety, age verification, and accountable gaming protections.”
Chicago’s proposed sports activities betting tax is budgetary smoke and mirrors that dangers undermining a authorized market that protects bettors — and will depart town with nothing to indicate for it. https://t.co/CGU0aXOpU1
— Sports activities Betting Alliance (@SBAllianceUS) December 16, 2025
The Sports activities Betting Alliance additionally wrote on X: “Chicago’s proposed sports activities betting tax is budgetary smoke and mirrors that dangers undermining a authorized market that protects bettors — and will depart town with nothing to indicate for it.”
The sports activities betting provision is only one of a number of tax and payment modifications folded into the funds ordinance, which stretches throughout dozens of chapters of the municipal code. Metropolis council members are anticipated to weigh the potential income enhance in opposition to issues about how the change may have an effect on the authorized sports activities wagering market within the nation’s third-largest metropolis.
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