Illinois Gaming Board asks for public opinion on sports betting guidelines

Two months after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a sweeping gambling expansion into law, the state’s gaming regulator is seeking comments from Illinoisans on how to roll out the newly legitimized world of sports betting.

As the agency drafts guidelines for the implementation of the new industry, the Illinois Gaming Board on Tuesday opened a month-long public comment period seeking input from the sports-wagering industry and any “other stakeholders,” including the regular local citizens. The Board wants to hear proposed rules and any “other response regarding rulemaking” for sports betting, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

Illinois gambling expansion legislation laid out a tax structure for sports betting — and it also authorized six new casinos, thousands more video gambling machines and racetrack casino games, all of which fall under the purview of the 150-employee gaming board.

"This public comment period is an important step in a process to ethically and expeditiously establish a regulatory framework to allow sports wagering in Illinois," gaming board administrator Marcus Fruchter said in a statement. "In order to make the process of rule creation as transparent and independent as possible, it is important that the public and various stakeholders have an equal opportunity to submit comments about the Sports Wagering Act contained in P.A 101-0031."

After that act became law June 28, statehouse sponsors suggested sportsbooks could be up and running in time for the NFL season, or by the Super Bowl at the latest.

The comment period closes Sept. 27 — during the Week 4 slate of NFL games.

Submissions then will be posted to the gaming board website “in a timely manner,” the agency said.

Fruchter hasn’t put a timeline on the rollout, previously saying the agency has to work “deliberately and not rush into something that either doesn’t work or has problems or any number of other concerns.”