The Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) recently announced a prohibition of gambling ads at the state’s colleges and universities. This continues the recent crackdown on sportsbooks in the state after implementing a transaction fee on sports bets.
Tightening Gaming Advertising
Land-based casinos, mobile sportsbooks, and any form of video gaming will be prohibited from advertising on college campuses in the state. The ban includes broadcast, digital, and print advertising from gaming companies in Illinois, and the directive went into effect on August 1, 2025.
According to recent statistics, there are a total of 249 colleges and universities in the Land of Lincoln. The rule is intended to protect young people and those most susceptible to problem gambling. A strengthening of the rules was deemed to be necessary to “assure an ethical advertising environment that restricts enticements to minors and those with gambling problems.”
Gaming Board Cites Responsible Gambling
Illinois Gaming Board Administrator Marcus D. Fruchter said in a released statement, “By adopting these measures, the IGB is building upon existing regulations to implement additional safeguards and standards that further protect the public and encourage responsible gambling habits. These regulations provide for clear, consistent, ethical, and transparent advertising and marketing guidelines for all casino, video gaming, and sports wagering operations under IGB jurisdiction.”
The rule will impact the state’s 17 casinos, roughly 9,000 licensed video gaming locations (VLTs), and 14 mobile sportsbooks. These gaming companies will no longer be allowed to engage in marketing agreements with third parties that are compensated via increased volume or losses by their customers.
Chicago Considers Per-Bet Tax Fee
Illinois has not been a hospitable market for mobile sportsbook operators recently. The Illinois legislature raised the tax on sportsbooks’ revenues from 15% in its initial year to a tiered system that imposes a 20% tax on annual revenue below $30 million, 25% for revenue up to $50 million, 30% for up to $100 million, 35% for up to $200 million, and 40% for more than $200 million.
The state then mandated a per-bet tax on top of the current tiered system that penalizes the most popular sportsbooks with a 25-cent transaction fee on every bet up to a volume of 20 million and then a 50-cent fee on all bets over 20 million. FanDuel and DraftKings have responded by passing the fee onto their customers in Illinois, while others have followed suit.
Chicago Floats Potential City-Level Tax
However, the specter of another increase was mentioned at a recent Chicago Committee on Finance: Subcommittee on Revenue meeting. Chicago’s Deputy CFO, Noor Shaikh, explained what the tax would look like over three hours into the meeting.
“What we looked at is what if the city extends a similar 50-cent per wager for all the [online] wagers placed in Chicago,” Shaikh said. “And we are estimating that this could raise anywhere from $40 million to $41 million over the next three years.”
The Chicago City Council did not formally enact the tax increase; it was merely mentioned at the meeting, but it would be another tax liability that the mobile sportsbooks would be forced to swallow. There has been no further comment from any city council members.
