Last year brought good fortune to Gov. JB Pritzker in his investment portfolio — and at the casino, too, according to 2024 income tax returns released by his campaign Wednesday.
In his joint filing with first lady MK Pritzker, the billionaire Democratic governor reported an adjusted gross income of almost $10.7 million, more than tripling the roughly $2.8 million they reported in 2023.
The latest windfall was boosted by $1,425,000 in gambling winnings, their federal filing shows, in addition to $4.2 million in capital gains, nearly $3.9 million in ordinary dividends and more than $800,000 in taxable interest. Pritzker doesn’t take a salary as governor.
A campaign spokesman said Pritzker “had winnings and losses from a casino” in Las Vegas, but didn’t name his game(s) of chance, nor exactly where he beat the house.
Gambling options have proliferated in Illinois under Pritzker, who signed legislation in 2019 that legalized sports betting, authorized six new casinos and expanded the pool of tens of thousands of slot machines in bars and restaurants to help fund his signature $45 billion capital infrastructure upgrade plan.
Pritzker’s billionaire family, whose wealth is rooted in the Hyatt hotel chain, has held financial interests in casinos for decades. Before he was first elected in 2018, Pritzker previously invested in a company that had a 1% stake in Elgin’s Grand Victoria Casino.
The governor, with an estimated net worth of $3.9 billion, doesn’t own a piece of the action anymore, and he’s had his investments in a blind trust since taking office. That allows him to profit off the investments but removes him from decision-making in an effort to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
Trusts benefiting Pritzker paid $30.2 million in federal taxes and $4.5 million in Illinois taxes, his campaign said. He’s seeking a third term as governor next year and considering a run for president in 2028.
JB and MK Pritzker paid almost $3.7 million in federal taxes for 2024 and more than $869,000 to the state. They made $3.3 million in personal charitable donations last year, according to the campaign.
It was the highest-income year since 2021 for Pritzker, who has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into his runs for office and other national Democratic campaigns.
He and his wife reported an adjusted gross of $18.5 million that year, a little more than half the $34.5 million that he reported in 2017 before becoming a public servant. The Pritzkers’ income has otherwise landed in the $2 million to $5 million range since he took office.