Do you think its alarming that a state is profiting a lot fom gambling?

[Hispo]

It is alarming only if we consider the percentage of people who are likely addicted to gambling in the state of Illinois. In the end, local and federal governments need a source of revenue, so they legalize and regulate gambling so they can also profit from it, it is normal for authorities to try to profit from gambling.

Perhaps the state of Illinois would carry out some study and see if there is a serious negative impact on their state as a product of those gambling terminals and depending on those results, discuss whether it would be a good idea to reduce the number of those stations and focus on others ways to tax money.

Just because a lot of people gamble and lose money, does not immediately mean they are all addicted.

[348Judah]

This is a common thing we see: some governments will definitely incentivize gambling, and this is how they have been generating part of their revenue from different sectors of the economy.

But we can also look beyond this fact that they are taking tax from each sector; what has been their own contribution as well to ensure that all these activities are not running off? How are the gamblers protected on their end without losing much of their fortune to gambling? These are the questions we should be asking when we see that the state is earning more from gambling and doing less to support the gamblers.

[IjawMan]

Indeed there are many sides to it, there is the revenue generating part which is sacrosanct to the government, there is also the area of job creation which helps creates employment opportunities for job seekers thereby reducing the growing armies of unemployed people.

Then also, the area of recreation for gaming enthusiasts who are the people who actually patronize these gaming companies, at this point I believe the authorities would have weighed their options to see what the odds are before lifting the restrictions that led to the rise in gaming stores all over the city and they believe it will do more good than harm.

[MisFoxie]

On the first question, I read in the Illinois Video Gaming Act that 72.7% of video gaming tax revenue goes to public infrastructure projects. So that revenue is really being used for the development of the state. But I know you might be worried about gambling regulations, they also have those in place, including the well-known Self-Exclusion Program or SEP, and this is a centralized program, so gamblers don't need to register separately at every casino, once they register, they will already be banned from all casinos regulated by the state.

While investing 72.7% of gaming tax revenue in public projects really helps a state a lot but despite safety rules like self exclusion, the government still face some major conflict of interest.

If a user suffers a huge loss after playing at one casino then if they become restricted from all other casinos as well because of self exclusion I think users will open accounts only as needed instead of opening multiple accounts in multiple casino.

Since the state relies quite a lot on gambling money so that they can pay for projects there is no real reason for them to stop people from gambling. If they actually take any measures for this they will be deprived of all the income from this sector.

[robelneo]

It's alarming, and I can compare it to my country during the height of the online sabong or cockfighting, where our country is making a lot coming from the taxes of these platforms, but criminality associated with gambling doubled, making it alarming. It's not a normal crime, but families are involved. Every day in the media, there are killings, kidnappings, and many crimes, and the root cause is that the perpetrators are involved in gambling.

When it comes to gambling, the state should not be deaf and blind, there is a moral decay, and the citizens will take action and protest against the government's negligence, and that scenario could happen to the state of Illinois.

[danadc]

Sol is a state, which isn't bad. I think everyone needs businesses where they can profit. At least here things are more legal. But when I was in my home country, it wasn't a state; it was the politicians who ruled. But I think they still have that system where casinos give a very high percentage to the politicians, and that's how they let the land-based casinos operate peacefully without being bothered.

That a US state benefits through taxes or whatever means seems transparent to me compared to my country, because here, anyone caught doing illegal things gets a very substantial punishment.

[Cgrexp]

This is a common thing we see: some governments will definitely incentivize gambling, and this is how they have been generating part of their revenue from different sectors of the economy.

But we can also look beyond this fact that they are taking tax from each sector; what has been their own contribution as well to ensure that all these activities are not running off? How are the gamblers protected on their end without losing much of their fortune to gambling? These are the questions we should be asking when we see that the state is earning more from gambling and doing less to support the gamblers.

Gambling is an activity that involves the risk of losing money and in many cases people spend more than their financial means in the hope of potential gains. At first, someone may play with a small amount of money for entertainment but gradually the habit can get out of control. At one stage, his savings may be exhausted, debts may increase, family relationships may be damaged and mental stress may reach unbearable levels. Therefore, looking at the loss of gambling as just the loss of money of an individual does not fully understand its real social impact. The government is not only a lawmaker but also responsible for protecting the safety and social stability of citizens. If a gambling establishment earns a large amount of money and the government also receives revenue from it then it should be part of the government's responsibility to ensure effective measures to reduce the potential losses of the people concerned. It is not enough to simply allow the establishments to operate; it is also necessary to regularly monitor the promises made in advertisements and the measures taken to protect risky players. However suppose a government collects a significant amount of tax from gambling. The overall success of that policy cannot be judged by the amount of revenue alone. In addition to the income that is being generated in the economy, the kind of damage that society is having to bear due to those activities must also be assessed.

[5W-KILO]

The state of Illinois just generated $2.7 billion in gambling revenue in fiscal year 2026. At the same time, gamblers lost a lot of money since the city council lifted the ban on video gaming terminals.

Based on the report, video game terminals are now approaching 50k, and it's flooding Chicago. Do you think it's alarming that the state profits from gambling, and they don't impose restrictions on the number of betting stations, thereby growing the number of gamblers and the money they are losing?

"When [video gaming terminals] were first introduced in 2012, people expected that that would plateau at 20,00 but there's no limited on how many establishments in the state can have them," she said. "Now we're approaching 50,000 and we're about to see that flood into Chicago, as the City Council just lifted the long time ban on video gaming terminals there."

Dougherty said sports betting is now the fastest growing form of gambling in Illinois, especially parlays.

Illinois gamblers lost more money last year than ever before

The thread will be locked in 48 hours.

We have the data on how much this state made from gambling but we don't have the data on how much some or even few gamblers in this state made out of gambling, I think this is an unfair complaining.

There is no way that every money made from gambling is all that gamblers thrown in the casino, you can't tell me that some gamblers don't make money.

In the end it's either the state is making money this way or they ban gambling, if all the gamblers in Illinois are gathered together in one place right now and they are asked if they want to end gambling or they should leave gambling be you will see what they will say.

We both know what this answer will be, and that's because some gamblers did made some.moeny anyway, it's acceptable that gambling is taking more money from gamblers but it's unacceptable that no gamblers made money.

[mak013]

The state of Illinois just generated $2.7 billion in gambling revenue in fiscal year 2026. At the same time, gamblers lost a lot of money since the city council lifted the ban on video gaming terminals.

Based on the report, video game terminals are now approaching 50k, and it's flooding Chicago. Do you think it's alarming that the state profits from gambling, and they don't impose restrictions on the number of betting stations, thereby growing the number of gamblers and the money they are losing?
~

Why should they care about it? It's a legal business, not an illegal one - and personally, I'm fine with it. If someone can't control themselves, that's their problem, they can see a psychologist.
Most gamblers don't lose their last penny, they're paying for entertainment, just like other people buy beer to relax. It's how they choose to spend their money, and the state gets its cut.

[Chinesebaby]

The state of Illinois just generated $2.7 billion in gambling revenue in fiscal year 2026. At the same time, gamblers lost a lot of money since the city council lifted the ban on video gaming terminals.

Based on the report, video game terminals are now approaching 50k, and it's flooding Chicago. Do you think it's alarming that the state profits from gambling, and they don't impose restrictions on the number of betting stations, thereby growing the number of gamblers and the money they are losing?

"When [video gaming terminals] were first introduced in 2012, people expected that that would plateau at 20,00 but there's no limited on how many establishments in the state can have them," she said. "Now we're approaching 50,000 and we're about to see that flood into Chicago, as the City Council just lifted the long time ban on video gaming terminals there."

Dougherty said sports betting is now the fastest growing form of gambling in Illinois, especially parlays.

Illinois gamblers lost more money last year than ever before

The thread will be locked in 48 hours.

There are only three ways through which the profits generated from gambling can be distributed, of which the first one could be either to the individual gamblers themselves, to the casino, or to the government who grant licenses to these casinos. And if the government decides not to receive its share of the profit been generated, it literally wouldn't stop the casino from generate huge profits from it. Because the only thing i observed here was the fact that immediately the ban on video game in Illinois was lifted, the number of gambles doubled. Which is exactly what might have resulted to the reason why the state government was able to get huge commission from its regulated casinos. So for me, what i think should have been the most important thing is the people of Illinois learning how to gamble responsibly.

[Finebone]

Blaming the government for earning a lot of money from gambling revenue is like pushing the blame on someone for your inability to control yourself or your inability to act responsible.

 Gambling is a game of choice, and as long as you are not being forced to carry it out, I see no reason why someone or an entity that benefited from it should be blame or should not benefit from your irresponsibility. Their is a popular saying that goes like this "your wisdom is important and beneficial to you alone, while your stupidity is also important and beneficial, but it is to others". So I see no reason why it's now a problem just because it's the government that is benefiting from it.

[Gozie51]

The state of Illinois just generated $2.7 billion in gambling revenue in fiscal year 2026. At the same time, gamblers lost a lot of money since the city council lifted the ban on video gaming terminals.

But for me, I see those who own gambling houses and casinos as business people and government is entitled to tax business outfit to generate income to run the government and provide social amenities. So no matter how much the government made through gambling businesses it is deemed to be the usual thing to do if the law stipulate it as revenue IGR.

However, the challenge is that gamblers are losing more than they are benefiting. Talking about video games, the rate of loses is really alarming. I'm saying what is obtainable even in Nigeria. The Nigerian government may not have come out with a survey on how much loses from the pocket of gamblers on it but base on P2P interaction and observations from the outcomes of gamblers within, it looks like it is fastest way to profit or lose in gambling. A video game clip may just last minutes but some gamblers stake hugely on it. So when they lose, they still chase the lose in same minute on the next game clip. This is not the same with matches or live matches that stay longer before FT.

Consequently, it is not the fault of government to generate such amount of money in gambling tax revenue. They also generate revenue from other businesses as well but gamblers lose more while casino owners pay tax from their profit.

[Emeraldo]

Then also, the area of recreation for gaming enthusiasts who are the people who actually patronize these gaming companies, at this point I believe the authorities would have weighed their options to see what the odds are before lifting the restrictions that led to the rise in gaming stores all over the city and they believe it will do more good than harm.

Are you trying to assume that the government know what they are doing and how much they will be making by lifting the ban on gambling? If this is the case, the government is the one that is benefiting while the people are the ones paying the price.
The casinos providing the room for gamblers will be making their money, the government which is the tax collector will come and take what belongs to them while the people spending their hard earned money to make profits would be on the other lane complaining of not making any money.

[Coyster]

I have seen a lot of posts in this section, of users complaining that one government or the other banned gambling, when they should have just regulated it. Never thought i'd see a thread complaining about the authorities making gambling legal and generating revenue from it. I thought that is something gamblers wanted.

Gambling is regulated in the state and the authorities are generating revenue from it, i don't see any reason to complain. People would always lose money to gambling, that is normal, just the same way people lose money in other activities as well.

[Mate2237]

Since gambling is legalized in Illinois, I don't see anything wrong with the revenue the government is generating from gambling after all, that's why they made it legal in other to tax the casinos and generate revenue for the country from the gambling industry.

Absolutely right, there is nothing wrong if the government gets a source of revenue from the casinos especially in country that doesn't really have much ways to generate revenue to develop their country, this can also be a way to boost the economy. As long as the casinos are not scamming the citizens then there's nothing wrong with this.

Of course, more people will definitely lose more money to gambling since, that's how the system has been designed to favor the house hedge. Whether, the government try their best to reduce the rate of gambling or not, more people will continue to jump into gambling with the mindset of getting rich through it.

In a country where gambling is causing more harm than good the government can come up with ways to mitigate the havoc and damage of gambling, they cannot eradicate gambling completely but the effort they make to keep it regulated and under control would actually go a long way. In such countries that government out a strict ban on gambling more people don't really jump into it, the population of gambling activities reduces drastically.

[Jubilee58]

The state of Illinois just generated $2.7 billion in gambling revenue in fiscal year 2026. At the same time, gamblers lost a lot of money since the city council lifted the ban on video gaming terminals.

Based on the report, video game terminals are now approaching 50k, and it's flooding Chicago. Do you think it's alarming that the state profits from gambling, and they don't impose restrictions on the number of betting stations, thereby growing the number of gamblers and the money they are losing?

"When [video gaming terminals] were first introduced in 2012, people expected that that would plateau at 20,00 but there's no limited on how many establishments in the state can have them," she said. "Now we're approaching 50,000 and we're about to see that flood into Chicago, as the City Council just lifted the long time ban on video gaming terminals there."

Dougherty said sports betting is now the fastest growing form of gambling in Illinois, especially parlays.

Illinois gamblers lost more money last year than ever before

The thread will be locked in 48 hours.

This is to say that Chicago is more interested in making profit from these games rather than protecting the gamblers from loosing much money. It is obvious that as the number of gambling terminals increases, so the number of gamblers will also increase. But in my opinion, there would have been a way to create responsible, and this can be done by regulating the activities of gamblers, and probably incorporating the idea of self exclusion.This is the reason why we see some countries placing very strict regulation on gambling, and some government even take the decision of stopping it entirely. While stopping gambling may not be entirely good, it adviseable to enable a system where every bettor will gamble responsible , and responsible gambling will not only help the gambler alone but the society as well.

[el che]

The state of Illinois just generated $2.7 billion in gambling revenue in fiscal year 2026. At the same time, gamblers lost a lot of money since the city council lifted the ban on video gaming terminals.

Based on the report, video game terminals are now approaching 50k, and it's flooding Chicago. Do you think it's alarming that the state profits from gambling, and they don't impose restrictions on the number of betting stations, thereby growing the number of gamblers and the money they are losing?

"When [video gaming terminals] were first introduced in 2012, people expected that that would plateau at 20,00 but there's no limited on how many establishments in the state can have them," she said. "Now we're approaching 50,000 and we're about to see that flood into Chicago, as the City Council just lifted the long time ban on video gaming terminals there."

Dougherty said sports betting is now the fastest growing form of gambling in Illinois, especially parlays.

Illinois gamblers lost more money last year than ever before

The thread will be locked in 48 hours.

Yes it’s alarming, but it’s the natural outcome when a state becomes addicted to gambling tax revenue. When governments depend on $2.7 billion from wagering to cover budget deficits, their incentive to protect players disappears. Removing limits on VGTs turns every bar or diner into a mini casino, making it easier for people to lose money consistently. The state is playing both operator and regulator, as long as revenue keeps setting records, they have zero reason to slow down expansion.  

[Jasmyne]

Since gambling is legalized in Illinois, I don't see anything wrong with the revenue the government is generating from gambling after all, that's why they made it legal in other to tax the casinos and generate revenue for the country from the gambling industry. Of course, more people will definitely lose more money to gambling since, that's how the system has been designed to favor the house hedge. Whether, the government try their best to reduce the rate of gambling or not, more people will continue to jump into gambling with the mindset of getting rich through it.

The only problem I see here is the government of Illinois giving the citizens more go ahead to gamble and lose money because of how they have made it legal in the country. The gambling companies will have nothing to lose because from the amount they generate they can comfortably pay their tax to the government who has given them the license to operate but if the government is not using the amount they make from the tax to develop the country it becomes a problem because the people will be suffering yet using the amount they have to gamble. The house will win more and the people will lose while the government will make more money from the revenue they generate.

[Su-asa]

Here in our country the Government has a program which is a charity but the funds come directly from a legal gambling which is lottery and many citizens are helped, except for the administration we have now which has totally no concern for the citizens under its jurisdiction.

So if the government benefits a lot from legal gambling's then that is normal especially if they pay the right taxes to the government. So for me it is not alarming.
But those who are addicted to gambling whose lives are ruined are the ones who are alarming in my opinion.

In every State where you have gamblers there are people that are always going to be addicted to it and there tow things involved in this, it's either the government ignores this or put a stop to gambling in that state totally, they can't stop it completely because some people would still find a way to gamble but it would be significantly reduced. But the government of some countries that prioritizes the revenue gotten from the casinos would not want anything to jeopardize it. It's funny that they might even build rehab centers for gambling addicts from the income they get from the casinos.

[Charles-Tim]

Yes it’s alarming, but it’s the natural outcome when a state becomes addicted to gambling tax revenue. When governments depend on $2.7 billion from wagering to cover budget deficits, their incentive to protect players disappears.

The article did not include the addicts in Illinois. It only included that more money was lost to gambling. From Illinois Department of Human Services, 3.8% of adult Illinoisans -- approximately 383,000 people -- are considered to have a gambling problem
An additional 7.7% -- approximately 761,000 people -- are at risk for developing a gambling problem.

https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=144073

This is similar to percentage of addicts in most countries. Illinois still tried that they are following the total number of people that are addicted.

It will be better if people are oriented and letting them knowing about responsible gambling if the rate is increasing.