Illinois lawmakers passed a bill requiring operators to pay a tax on individual bets: $0.25 for the first 20 million wagers, and $0.50 for any over 20 million. Legislators introduced the bill as part of the FY2026 budget in May, and went into effect July 1. Now, operators are passing the tax on to their Illinois customers, either through a per-wager surcharge or a minimum bet amount.
Nine of Illinois’ 10 operators so far have implemented a surcharge or bet minimum. Fanatics Betting & Gaming, which announced a $0.25 per-wager surcharge has not begun to charge it. But Monday, the state’s two biggest operators, DraftKings and FanDuel, began adding their surcharges.
DraftKings initially announced what was interpreted as a blanket $0.50 per-wager surcharge, but told InGame Wednesday, “The pass-through amount on certain wagers will begin at $0.25 and will increase to $0.50 for certain wagers in excess of 20 million annual combined wagers placed on DraftKings. We will not be passing through the per wager tax on parlay wagers with a stake of $10.00 or more, singles bets with a stake of $50.00 or more, bets placed using a bonus bet token or bets placed by customers that are at Silver tier loyalty status or higher in the DraftKings Loyalty program at the time the applicable bet is placed.”
Here’s what to expect if you bet in Illinois going forward.
bet365
Bet365 will charge an extra $0.25 on bets under $10, it announced Aug. 31.

BetMGM
BetMGM implemented a $2.50 minimum bet as of July 16.

BetRivers
BetRivers announced a $1 bet minimum during its second-quarter earnings call July 30, but subsequently updated that to $2.50.

Caesars
Caesars Sportsbook is charging $0.25-per-wager as of Sept. 1.

Circa Sportsbook
Circa Sports is implementing a $10 minimum, announced Aug. 15.

DraftKings
DraftKings is charging varying per-wager as of Sept. 1, explicitly noting in the bet slip a “Pass through of Illinois Per Wager Tax.”

ESPN Bet
ESPN Bet implemented a $1 minimum bet Aug. 8.

FanDuel
FanDuel implemented a $0.50 per-wager surcharge Sept. 1.

Hard Rock
Hard Rock Bet requires a $2 minimum bet.

Christopher Altruda contributed to this report.