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The arrests come amid a surge in burglaries targeting Illinois’ vast network of nearly 50,000 video gaming terminals.
Illinois Gaming Board data obtained earlier this year by the Chicago Sun-Times revealed that 502 gaming-related burglaries had been reported through June 22—already topping the 473 recorded during all of 2025. More than $1.5 million was stolen during the first half of 2026 across more than 100 municipalities.
The attacks have shown little sign of slowing. Earlier this month, law enforcement noted that a single crew is suspected in coordinated burglaries across Wheeling, New Lenox, and Peotone, where masked offenders armed with sledgehammers hit gaming venues within a 24-hour span.
What is Hotline?
A customer might buy a team at 55 or 56 cents expecting the price to rise to 58 or 59 cents, he explains. If it falls to 45 cents instead, the trader may refuse to accept the loss and continue holding the position.
“People will lose money faster on exchanges for lots of reasons,” Marantelli says. “It inherently increases spend, volatility, lots of things. And you’re playing against a sharper audience than you’re playing against at the DraftKings sportsbook.”
He compares the effect with sportsbook cash-out features, which gave customers more apparent control over their bets but may also have encouraged greater spending. The crucial difference is that an exchange customer can be facing a specialist whose entire business is identifying inaccurately priced contracts.
About Hotline
Powerball will next be drawn this Saturday (Sept. 19) with an estimated jackpot of $298 million up for grabs. The cash option is at $126.6 million.
Tonight (Sept. 18), the Mega Millions jackpot is $244 million, with the cash at $103.5 million.
The odds of winning Powerball are 1 in 292.2 million. The Mega Millions jackpot odds are 1 in 290.4 million.
