A lot of people aren’t happy about it, but there’s no question that legal gambling in Illinois is a big and booming business.

A report recently released by the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting & Accountability states that the state collected more than $2 billion in tax revenues during the 2023-24 fiscal year, a 4.8 percent increase over the previous fiscal year.

That’s not to suggest, of course, that gambling revenues are the solution to the state’s serious financial woes. Although impressive, they represent a small percentage of the state’s current $53 billion general operating budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year.