Better Money Maker: Weed In Illinois Or Fireworks In Wisconsin?

What's the bigger state export money maker, Illinois residents crossing over the Cheddar Curtain to buy fireworks or people from Wisconsin picking up some marijuana in the Land of Lincoln?

Wisconsin Owned Illinois For Years With Adult Fun Things

For many years, it wasn't just Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers owning the Chicago Bears. Wisconsin was dominating Illinois when it came to novelty items for adults. I'm talking about fireworks. They're illegal in the Land of Lincoln so residents would cross the border and spend their hard earn money beyond the Cheddar Curtain. Our state would miss out on all the extra money.

Illinois Has A Product To Get Them Back In The Game

Finally, our state has a product to get them back in the money-making game against our neighbors to the north. That's legal recreational marijuana. It's illegal in Wisconsin so residents are heading south to buy it. They're breaking the bank with those purchases.

Lots Of Action On The Illinois And Wisconsin Border

Nowadays, there's a lot of action on the Illinois and Wisconsin border, especially this time of year. For years the Wisconsin side was lined with fireworks stores. Now, Illinois has competing businesses along the state line They are marijuana dispensaries. It's quite humorous to travel up to Beloit and see firecracker stand parking lots filled with Illinois license plates. Then head to South Beloit and check out all the Wisconsin cars at the pot shop.

Who Wins... Illinois' Weed Or Wisconsin's Fireworks?

I think this is a very interesting battle because both are very popular items. Overall, I think pot wins because it's an all-year business but for those few weeks leading up to the 4th of July, I'm sure fireworks make a huge financial impact. Let's do some research.

By The Numbers

Let's check out the statistics to find out the true winner.

According to cnbc.com,

Wisconsin spends $7,987,014 on fireworks. For Illinois, it's $1,530,614. Depending on where you live in the state, you might actually go to Indiana or Missouri to buy bottle rockets and other stuff. Doing some fancy math, let's say Wisconsin earns $9 million on fireworks with a small percentage coming from Illinois.

According to marijuanamoment.com,

For Illinois during the month of April, just under $132 million was spent on weed. Of that total, $40.8 million was purchased by out-of-state residents. Of course, it's not all by Wisconsin consumers. If we take a conservative number like 10%, that's still $4 million taken over the Cheddar Curtain.

And The Winner Is...

It's pretty obvious that marijuana from Illinois crushes fireworks from Wisconsin. Now if we could just get the Bears to start beating the Packers.