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A US governor pocketed $1.4m (£1m) in gambling windfalls last year, a copy of his recent tax filing shows.
JB Pritzker reportedly won the amount while playing blackjack at a Las Vegas casino while on vacation with his wife and friends.
The two-term Democrat now has a net worth of $3.9bn (£2.9bn), according to Forbes, and is the heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune.
A campaign spokesman told CBS, the BBC’s US affiliate, that Pritzker planned to donate the money to charity, but did not say why he had not yet done so.
Speaking at a news conference Thursday, the Illinois governor described the win and himself as “incredibly lucky.”
“You have to be to get ahead, frankly, going to a casino anywhere,” Pritzker added.
He previously founded the Chicago Poker Challenge charity, which he says has “raised millions of dollars” for the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.
Pritzker and his wife Mary Catherine reported a combined income of $10.6m (£7.8m) in 2024, mostly from dividends and capital gains. It is understood they paid $1.6 million in taxes on taxable income of $5.87 million.
He describes his Sin City earnings as a “pure number” throughout his journey. He declined to say what his winning hand was, according to CBS.
“Anyone who has played cards in a casino knows that you often play too long and lose whatever you’ve won,” Pritzker said. “I was lucky enough to leave before that happened.
The governor has emerged as one of the strongest critics of US President Donald Trump recently, clash with the president about the federal deployment of national troops to Chicago – actions he called “authoritarian.”
Trump called for the Illinois official to be jailed, accusing him and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson of not doing enough to ensure the safety of federal immigration officials who were conducting actions in Chicago.
Pritzker intends to run for a third term in the governor’s mansion in 2026, of course, and has deflected questions about any ambitions beyond his current position.
