Casino sportsbooks across Illinois have paid a 15 percent tax on their revenue after paying out winners since legal betting launched in 2020, but the Democratic governor’s latest budget proposal would increase that rate to 35 percent. The governor's office says the hike, which is still lower than other big-betting states, is a slam dunk to generate an extra $200 million for the cash-strapped state. Major gambling corporations argue it’ll block growth in a market that has ballooned into one of the biggest, most betting-hungry in the nation.
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.
Remember Porky, pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. The rotund one has an insatiable appetite for everyone else’s money.
“Betting-hungry” doesn’t sound like a good thing to be. Kind of cringey that both the state and the casinos are licking their chops over us.