Marijuana entrepreneurs are starting to rake in millions of dollars a month in Illinois as customers line up to buy newly legal weed, but who’s profiting from those sales remains secret.

Regulators say state law bars the release of almost all the information businesses have to submit to get lucrative licenses to grow or sell cannabis.

As a result, the public can’t see records that could show whether pot businesses have questionable funding sources or ties to unsavory people. That’s proven problematic in another state-regulated industry — gambling, where revelations of reputed mob ties have sent officials scrambling.

Concerns about a lack of transparency came up last year before the passage of the law that legalized recreational pot. Sponsors Sen. Heather Steans and Rep. Kelly Cassidy vowed to “make ownership data completely accessible.” Despite that pledge, their bill passed with a confidentiality provision that the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation recently cited in denying the Tribune’s open records requests for applications and ownership information about marijuana dispensaries.

The state is applying similar secrecy to cultivation businesses. [Read more at Chicago Tribune]