Illinois State Rep. Mike Zalewski filed a bill Saturday that would amend the Sports Wagering Act to allow legal sports betting on events involving the state’s colleges and universities.
HB 5876 would go into effect immediately if passed, though it is uncertain if the outgoing 101st General Assembly can move quickly enough to pass the bill before the swearing-in of the 102nd General Assembly on Wednesday at noon local time. The bill had its first reading and was referred to the Rules Committee on Saturday but needs to be read on three separate days in both the House and Senate chambers.
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Zalewski was one of the primary drivers of the Sports Wagering Act that Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law in June 2019 legalizing sports betting. Illinois began accepting wagers in March right before COVID-19 shut down almost all sports betting nationwide, and the sports betting market has thrived thanks to Pritzker’s monthly renewals of Executive Order 2020-41. Initially issued in June and most recently renewed Friday, it suspends the in-person registration required to gain initial access to mobile sports wagering.
Illinois is one of many jurisdictions with a carve-out prohibiting bettors from placing wagers on sporting events involving in-state schools, including Delaware, Rhode Island, New York, Washington, D.C., and Oregon. New Jersey also has one, but legislators there began the process of expanding betting options to include those schools in November.