Illinois: Member Action Needed by WEDNESDAY, FEB 9

As you may know, iDEA has been leading an effort to fix the cost for a supplier license in Illinois. Under the current law, a supplier licensee is required to pay a $150,000.00 fee for the first 4 year term. However, rather than reducing the cost for the renewal (which is typical for gaming licenses), the law requires that supplier licensees pay $150,000.00 ANNUALLY for each year they hold their license following the first 4-year term. As written, in years 1-4 you would pay $150,000.00 and then over years 5 – 8 you would pay $600,000.00 for the same license.

iDEA has worked with the Illinois Gaming Board and lawmakers to correct this inequity under the law and we have legislation pending in the House and Senate. Our bill, SB 2973/HB 4576, reduces the renewal to $50,000.00 for the four year term, resulting in a savings of $550,000.00 for your company over that same period. The bill will be subject to a hearing in the Senate Executive Committee this Wednesday at 2pm CT. iDEA’s lobbyist, Chris Nybo, will be presenting brief testimony in support of this bill at the hearing.

ACTION NEEDED BY WEDNESDAY: We ask that iDEA members fill out a “Witness Slip” to electronically voice their support for this legislation. You can do this by going to Witness Slip (ilga.gov) and filling out the information on the form provided:

Section “I. IDENTIFICATION” please provide your contact information.
Section “II. REPRESENTATION” list your company name.
Section “III. POSITION” check Proponent.
Section “IV. TESTIMONY” check Record of Appearance Only.

It should take no more than 2 minutes.

If you have any questions about filling out the form, or about the legislation, please reach out to John Pappas (jpappas@ideagrowth.org) and Chris Nybo (chris@chrisnybollc.com).