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An overlooked aspect of gaming expansion

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Illinois

Just six pages of the state’s hefty new 816-page gambling law are devoted to the nascent lottery sports pilot. It’s limited to parlay wagers, meaning bettors pick the outcomes of multiple games as part of the same bet, and have to get each one right to win. […]

In the Illinois version, gamblers will place their bets at electronic kiosks placed in up to 2,500 retailers that are authorized in the first year of the pilot. An additional 2,500 retailers will be eligible to join the action in the second year. If they all take part, that comes out to about two-thirds of the nearly 7,400 lottery retailers currently spread across the state.

Before any of that, the lottery will put a whopping $20 million master license out for competitive bids, for a company to install, operate and maintain the betting kiosks through a central network system.

Like the state’s traditional sports-betting industry — for which regulations are still being hammered out by the Illinois Gaming Board — lottery officials say they don’t have a timeline for when the pilot could launch. They still have to draft rules governing the sports that can be bet on, wager amounts and parlay sizes, among other things.

* Related…

* Will Sun-Times Sports legend Bill Gleason be proven right about parlay cards — 43 years later?

* What Is Parlay Betting?

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 27, 19 @ 10:00 am

Comments

The parlay always seemed like the lowest hanging fruit of the whole sports betting idea. A couple of states (Deleware I think) had it for a while so there was some experience at the state lottery level and it is a fun and easy bet. Seems like a win for the lottery.

Used to listen to Bil Gleason on WGN with the Sportswriters as a kid coming home from our camping trips. Got to meet Gleason and Ben Bently when I was an adult, both were really cool to the 20 something sounding so thrilled to meet two guys he heard on the radio as a kid.

Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Aug 27, 19 @ 10:08 am
Big winners will be convenience/liquor stores -
go Sunday AM to bet your parlay before kick off and also grab a sixer and chips.

Comment by Donnie Elgin Tuesday, Aug 27, 19 @ 11:03 am
Gambling expansion proves everything old is new again. Chicago Mayor Big Bill Thompson proposed a city lottery during the Great Depression, but the idea never gained traction. A few years later Mayor Ed Kelly proposed legalizing bookmaking on horse races, but Governor Henry Horner vetoed the bill.

Comment by Practical Politics Tuesday, Aug 27, 19 @ 11:25 am