The Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) held its monthly meeting on Thursday, April 24, 2025. The meeting was hybrid with in-person accessibility at 160 N. LaSalle St., 5th Floor Auditorium and via livestream. Board members present at this meeting included Chairman Schmadeke, Member Hayden, Member Brannon and Member Ferrara.
The meeting began with the approval of the minutes of the regular board meeting from Thursday, March 13, 2025, and continued with the Administrator’s report.
Administrator’s Report
The Administrator began his comments by acknowledging the recent and landmark opening of Illinois’ first racino at Fairmont Park, which was issued a temporary operating permit by the Administrator earlier this month.
The Administrator continued his comments and again reminded patrons to conduct business only with IGB-licensed providers, stating that unlicensed and illegal businesses lack controls and safety measures. These unlicensed providers include sweepstakes machines or illegal sports betting contests, which are incorrectly advertised as legal sweepstake or skilled games. He further stated, as he had last month, that the IGB supports Illinois House Bill 2879 Illinois General Assembly - Bill Status for HB2879 and Illinois Senate Bill 1705 Illinois General Assembly - Bill Status for SB1705 prohibiting these activities.
Relatedly, the Administrator reminded the public of the IGB’s anonymous reporting portal to report prohibitive conduct that is available on the IGB’s website: Report Prohibited Conduct. The Administrator stated that individuals should say something if they see something illegal, unethical, prohibitive, or conduct that tends to discredit the industry.
Lastly, the Administrator provided the industry revenue numbers. According to the Administrator, there are 17 casinos, 13 operational sports books, 58 terminal operators and 8,670 live video gaming locations offering approximately 48,947 video gaming terminals (VGTs). He also reported that the Ticket In Ticket Out (TITO) testing is on track for implementation this July for updated and compatible VGTs.
We would like to point out that the revenue numbers at this meeting show a significant jump from our last report. We believe it is because the last report was incomplete given reporting timelines of the various industries. The information provided today paints a more complete picture.
In March, VGTs generated approximately $100 million in taxes with the state’s share being approximately $85.8 million and the location municipalities receiving approximately $14.7 million. Casinos in March yielded roughly $35 million in tax revenue, with $25 million in taxes going to the state and $10 million to host communities. The February total for sports wagering adjusted gross revenue generated a taxable amount of roughly $46 million with $45 million in taxes going to the state and approximately $1.2 million going to Cook County. In total, the combined industries of video gaming, sports wagering and casino activity reported for January through March 2025 has generated approximately $458 million in taxes, with the state’s share being $388 million and local communities receiving $70 million.
Public Commentary
Joe Langhauser, a representative for The Columbian Association of Breese, was scheduled to address the Board during the public commentary section, however, it appeared that Mr. Langhauser was not present in person nor was he logged in to the meeting virtually.
Administrative Matters
The Administrator next provided an overview of proposed new rules and amendments to existing rules. A summary of these, by industry, is below. These were all approved by the Board to be submitted to the Index Department of the Secretary of State for publication, public comment, and eventual presentment to the Joint Committee of Administrative Rules (JCAR) for 1st Notice review and consideration.
If you have any questions regarding these proposals, or would like to discuss submitting comments, feel free to reach out to us. At the time of this publication, the proposals were not yet added to the IGB’s site but those interested should periodically check the respective sections of the IGB’s page as they will be posted under Laws & Regulations.
For rules pertaining to casinos, the Administrator discussed 3000.600 and 3000.614. Rule 600 would be amended to permit wagering via a digital account connected to casinos’ computer management systems whereby a player could use their player account to have wagers and withdrawal credited back to their digital account. Of course, this system would have safeguards in place such as anti-money laundering policies and self-exclusion list protections. Rule 614 is proposed to streamline the IGB’s approval process for giveaways and other promotional activities at casinos. The rule would waive the IGB approval requirement for promotions under certain dollar amounts.
In the video gaming industry, Rule 1800.265(j) proposes to detail record retention requirements for sales agents.
Rule 1900.1220 in sports wagering would prohibit funding accounts with credit cards. This rule already exists for casinos and video gaming industries and is part of the IGB’s dedication to promote responsible gaming and consistency across industries.
Casino
The casino portion of this meeting began with the Board approving the following key persons and Level 1 occupational licenses:
- Lisa Marie Whiteley for her role as Owner/CFO/Treasurer of American Gaming & Electronics, Inc.
- Derek Steven Dishman for his Director of Information Technology of Bally’s Chicago Operating Company, LLC.
- Travis Jett Hankins for his role as Vice President and General Manager of Bally’s Chicago Operating Company, LLC.
- Ryan Patrick Coppola for his role as Vice President and General Manager for The Rock Island Boatworks, LLC d/b/a Bally’s Quad Cities Casino & Hotel.
- Kenneth Ray Clayton for his role as Director of Information Technology for Wind Creek IL LLC d/b/a Wind Creek Chicago Southland.
The Board next granted initial occupational licenses to 208 Level 2 and 13) Level 3 applicants and issued notices of denial to 10 individuals. The Board also denied the request of hearing from an occupational licensee as the request allegedly failed to prove a prima facie case and meet certain filing requirements, such as a verification of the hearing request.
The Administrator then issued renewals to all occupational licensees that were up for renewal and had provided updated information, timely paid their renewal fees and complied with all other requirements.
Sports Wagering
The sports wagering portion of the meeting began with the Board granting initial Level 1 occupational licenses to Laura Jeanne Conlon, for her role as Controller for Hawthorne Race Course, Inc. d/b/a Hawthorne Casino & Race Course, and John Michael Walsh, for his role as General Manager for Hawthorne Race Course, Inc. d/b/a Hawthorne Casino & Race Course.
The Board concluded this session by issuing 107 Level 2 and 3 occupational licenses and the Administrator granting renewals to the Level 1, 2 and 3 licensees that were up for renewal, had provided updated information to the IGB, timely paid their renewal fees and complied with all other requirements.
Video Gaming
The video gaming portion of the meeting began with the Board denying the terminal operator license of Win Baby Productions, LLC and granting 91 location applicants for licensure and issuing a denial to Leena Corporation d/b/a Quick Stop.
The Administrator then renewed the terminal handler, technician and location licensees that were up for renewal and had provided updated information to the IGB, timely paid their renewal fees and complied with all other requirements.
The meeting concluded with the Board issuing a final Board order in the matter of 22 GB 019 In re: Denial of Debra Wells d/b/a Deb’s Red Rose, whereby they adopted the Administrative Law Judge’s decision to upload the denial stating the applicant failed to meet the burden of proof regarding suitability.
That meeting was then adjourned. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, June 5, 2025.
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