JB Pritzker explains how he won $1.4 million gambling in Las Vegas
By David Wright, CNN
(CNN) — Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker won $1.4 million playing blackjack in Las Vegas last year, according to a release from his campaign, training a spotlight on the billionaire Democrat’s tremendous personal wealth with a potential 2028 presidential campaign looming.
At a press conference Thursday, Pritzker was asked about the disclosure and said that he won the prize while on a vacation with friends. His campaign noted that he donated the winnings to charity.
“I went on vacation with my wife, with some friends, I was incredibly lucky. You have to be to end up ahead, frankly, going to a casino anywhere,” Pritzker joked. “It was in Las Vegas, and I like to play cards.”
Pritzker noted that he had founded a charitable poker tournament in Chicago “that has raised millions of dollars for the Holocaust Museum here, and particularly to stand up for civil rights.”
“So anyway, that’s, that’s all I can say about it,” Pritzker remarked. “Had fun doing it. I, you know, encourage people to come to the state of Illinois and gamble in our casinos here, we have some really lovely places to go.”
The tax filings showed that Pritzker and his wife, MK, reported more than $10 million in income for 2024. Pritzker, a multi-billionaire, is an heir to the Hyatt hotel chain fortune, and his family is among the wealthiest in the United States.
The Illinois governor has deployed his fortune for both his own political campaigns and the broader Democratic Party. He helped secure the 2024 Democratic National Convention for Chicago in his home state, contributing millions to the event, and also gave more than $1 million to the fight over a critical Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin earlier this year.
Pritzker now ranks as one of the top contenders for his party’s 2028 presidential nomination ahead of a wide-open race, leveraging his prominence as governor and his immense personal fortune to build influence and raise his profile.
And he has leaned into confrontations with the second Trump administration throughout its opening months, clashing with the president over the deployment of the National Guard to Chicago, and positioning himself as the bulwark of his party’s resistance.
“The people who are fighting against the things that are so important to working families and the fundamental values of Democrats have all the money, or most of it,” Pritzker told CNN earlier this year. “And so when I have an opportunity, I step up.”
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