The changes proposed by the Illinois Gaming Board would expand enrollment options for the self-exclusion list. Nearly 16,000 people have signed up for the list, which allows people to bar themselves from sports betting, casinos and other forms of legalized betting.

Bally’s is slowing construction on parts of its $1.7 billion casino and entertainment complex in River West, following the Chicago City Council’s approval of video gambling terminals in bars and restaurants.

Officials with Bally’s Corp. have been warning the Chicago City Council for months that its move to green-light video gaming would kneecap the city’s permanent casino, scheduled to open in River West early next year.

A new Illinois law classifies compulsive gambling under the same umbrella as alcohol and drug disorders.

The City Council’s Ethics and Government Oversight Committee voted unanimously to advance a measure that would amend the city’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance to ban employees from using insider information to bet on prediction markets.

Approximately 7,000 unpermitted sweepstakes machines operate in all kinds of businesses across the city — including in bars, restaurants, gas stations, laundromats and convenience stores — but are concentrated on the South and West sides.

If Mayor Brandon Johnson and his allies on the Chicago City Council have their way, those bars and restaurants will never get to plug in video poker and slot machines.

The budget totals $55.9 billion, supported by a similar amount of revenue. The spending plan included an $830 million supplemental current-year spending plan, meaning the upcoming fiscal year 2027 budget is essentially flat.

The Chicago City Council’s License and Consumer Protection Committee voted to ban the thousands of unpermitted sweepstakes machines that operate in all kinds of businesses across the city, including in bars, restaurants, gas stations, laundromats and convenience stores.

The rapid growth of prediction markets has sparked a high-stakes debate that is playing out in courts and legislatures all over the country.

The order seeks to prevent insider trading by strengthening guardrails amid the rapid growth of online prediction markets and event-based gambling contracts, the governor’s office said.

The vote came after officials with Bally’s Corp. issued the most direct warning to the City Council that its move to green-light video gaming would kneecap the city’s permanent casino, scheduled to open in River West later this year.

Once a niche interest, prediction markets have broken through to a wider audience. Now, lawmakers and the public are trying to adapt to a world where people can bet on almost anything.

The ordinances rejected by the committee would have banned video slots and poker machines in the 26th Ward, the 27th Ward, the 28th Ward, the 33rd Ward, the 35th Ward and the 49th Ward.

The number of people visiting the temporary casino at River North’s Medinah Temple failed to grow from 2024 to 2025, leading to a 1.3% drop in tax revenues,

“DePaul University is deeply disappointed that former student-athletes were named in the indictment for alleged gambling activities during the 2023-2024 men’s basketball season,” a university spokesperson said.