Sunset Date For Illinois Online Lottery Now 2030
Illinois lawmakers give online lottery ticket sales another five-plus years of life by extending sunset date
1 min
Lost in the drama of Illinois legislators adding a per-wager tax for sports bets, state lawmakers also quietly extended the sunset date that allows the Illinois Lottery to sell tickets online.
The provision in the Illinois Lottery law that allowed for online lottery ticket sales that was passed for Fiscal Year 2019 had a sunset date of July 1, 2025. That date was extended to Dec. 31, 2030, via amendment in SB 2456 sponsored by Sen. Suzy Glowiak Hilton. The amendment, though, required passing through multiple committees in the House.
It passed the House on May 30, which resulted in it progressing to the Senate to be heard for concurrence. Since it was not heard in the Senate until after midnight on June 1, it required a three-fifths majority to pass as opposed to a simple majority. There were still more than enough votes in the upper chamber to approve the bill as it passed by a 38-19 vote.
Impact of potential iGaming legalization?
Because this is the first year of the two-year General Assembly in Illinois, bills that finished the legislative session in sine die (meaning without a future date designated) can be re-filed or revisited next year for potential passage. That could prompt lawmakers to scrutinize the provision of the lottery law that allows online ticket sales, given an expected push to legalize online casino gaming.
Sen. Cristina Castro, who introduced an iGaming bill for the second straight General Assembly, sharply questioned the validity of online lottery ticket sales during a committee hearing in March with Illinois Lottery Director Harold Mays.
Nothing changed in the relevant portion of the text of the lottery law regarding online sales, with the bill reading, “Any draw game tickets that are approved for sale by lottery licensees are automatically approved for sale through the Internet program.”
Castro questioned whether the state agency was overstepping its bounds with the online offerings, saying the Illinois Lottery made a “whole bunch of changes without consulting or consultation with the General Assembly.”
The Illinois Lottery does not break out its lottery ticket sales by online and retail totals, but the most recent month of reporting, for April, showed $308.2 million in ticket sales, down 5.1% compared to last year. That was largely due to downturns for both Mega Millions and Powerball.
Mega Millions ticket sales plunged 28.1% year-over-year to $8.4 million, while Powerball ticket sales plummeted 67.5% to $8.9 million. Powerball had a $1.33 billion jackpot won April 6, 2024, and the largest jackpot drawing this April was $167 million April 26, won in Kentucky.
