Pot sales, tax revenue keep growing like a weed

Another month of record sales and record tax revenue go hand in hand on adult-use cannabis

A new Sunnyside dispensary is completing the permit process ahead of opening in Chicago’s Wrigleyville area. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

By Ted Cox

Another month of record sales for recreational marijuana goes hand in hand with record tax revenues, and it looks as if the trend that has persisted since legalization began in January will keep rolling through October.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation reported another month of record sales of legal weed across the board in September, with $49.8 million in sales to Illinoisans combining with $17.9 million to so-called cannabis tourists from out of state for a total of $67.6 million on sales of more than 1.4 million items.

All were new highs topping the record amounts from August. With tax collections on adult-use cannabis typically lagging a month behind sales, the Illinois Department of Revenue likewise reported record highs for September of $20.2 million, as legal weed continued its march toward revenue figures for alcohol. The state took in $26.2 million in taxes from liquor sales in September, the first month that revenues from legalization topped $20 million after approaching that mark in August.

It was the fourth straight month of record tax revenues from recreational marijuana, and the fifth straight month of record sales. The record sales figure for recreational pot in September of course portends another record for tax revenues in October.

Not all sin taxes are on the upswing, however. The Revenue Department has recorded a precipitous drop in collections for legal gambling in the new fiscal year that began July 1, charting a steady decline from $875,000 in July to $317,000 in August to now just $77,000 in September — no doubt a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic discouraging trips to the casino, as well as bar video gaming.