Reasonable people can argue over whether legalized gambling will prove in the long run to be a good thing or a bad thing for Illinois. We’ve never been entirely comfortable with either assessment.
What we do know – intuitively as well as from the growing evidence – is that it is not a sure thing.
That conclusion is clear from Jake Griffin’s analysis in Sunday’s Daily Herald of the latest numbers on Illinois gambling. The short form:
The state’s $1.99 billion take in all gambling taxes for Fiscal Year 2023, which ended June 30, was a record, a 5% increase over the year before. Casinos generated $157 million of that.
