“Without action, Chicago would continue to lose patrons to sports wagering facilities outside the city limits or utilize mobile betting services,” the flier states. It estimates “direct and indirect tax revenue to the state, county and city from sports wagering” would “exceed $79 million annually.” Sports moguls laid out their argument to lift Chicago’s ban on sports betting in a flyer distributed to Council members before Monday’s hearing. “What is more important - that the city have a great casino or the sports teams have a retail sports betting book?. Now, when you finally can have one, why would you create several competitors when the city gets no revenue from sports betting?” Bluhm said. “For almost 20 years, the city has tried to get a casino. The city would lose 20% of that - about $12 million.

That means that less sports bettors will walk around the casino and play slots and table games and less people go to the restaurants at the casino if they can also be betting sports at the same time at the stadium.”īluhm argued Chicago casino revenue from slots and tables would drop by $61 million a year with stadium sports betting.

“The bottom line is that less people will come to the Chicago casino when they can bet on sports at the stadiums, particularly at these really good, close locations.

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