Illinois Online Betting

Illinois is home to many legal, regulated gambling choices both online and in-person. In the physical world, you will find riverboat casinos, racetracks and a lottery. Online betting can be regulated with an assortment of horse racing gambling sites and fantasy sports sites.
Sports gambling can be on its way to Illinois following a major gaming reform bill has been approved by the legislature and signed into law by Governor J.B. Pritzker at mid-2019. Under that legislation, in-person and cellular sportsbooks are licensed to take a full range of sports wagers from anyone 21 or older and physically located in state lines.
As it stands right now, Illinois is on its way to becoming a gaming powerhouse between its big population and broad number of legal gambling options. The addition of online sports betting is particularly notable as that will enthusiasts across the state easy access to safe and legal wagering.
Online Betting Sites in Illinois
Online sports gambling is now legal in Illinois, but it’s going to be some time before the initial programs are approved to accept wagers from the general public. Meanwhile, horse racing and fantasy sports websites and the online lottery are legal and offer a similar encounter.
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Horse racing, fantasy sports websites and also the state lottery can offer their services in Illinois provided they have the right licensing to achieve that. Each prospective gaming site must receive specific approval from the state gaming board until it could lawfully accept wagers from country residents.
One online sports betting operator has reserved its location in the Illinois marketplace so far. Just days following the IL sports gambling law has been approved, Australian company PointsBet.com announced a partnership with Hawthorne Race Course to construct a retail sportsbook in the track, offer gambling through numerous off-track betting locations and to launch a mobile app.
FanDuel and DraftKings are very likely to join the fray at Illinois at some stage a nicely, but neither has detailed any plans it has for your nation. As additional operators disclose their plans, we will update this page together with crucial info.
Horse Racing
The Illinois Racing Board keeps a current list of gambling websites that are permitted to take wagers over the net from taxpayers. The current list is made up of TVG, BetAmerica, TwinSpires and also a couple of others.
My personal recommendation would be to proceed with TVG or BetAmerica. These are the largest and most well-known sites on the list and have the maximum racing gambling options.
Illinois also licenses off-track betting (OTB) at particular locations throughout the state. As its name implies, OTB facilities allow you to place wagers on horse races at places other than the true racetrack. Each track may authorize a certain number of OTB places for a total of 43 possible facilities. Currently, 27 OTB centers are busy. You may see the complete list .
Legal Illinois Sports Betting
Illinois legalized in-persona and mobile sports betting with a law passed in June 2019. After the House and Senate issued his stamps of approval, Governor J.B. Pritzker added his signature to flip the bill to the law of this land.
Under SB 690 (beginning on page 227), Illinois will issue licenses to casinos, racetracks and professional sports stadiums to run retail sportsbooks to take wagers in person in addition to mobile betting apps to take wagers online.
Online operators like FanDuel, DraftKings and PointsBet may either partner with a regional land-based sportsbook operator or apply for one of those three online-only licenses which will be issued under the new law.
Now, it’s just a matter of time as state regulators draw up rules governing the business, review applications from curious sports gambling suppliers and problem the go-ahead for accredited operators to begin accepting wagers.
The pending IL sports betting law does have its troublesome areas such as high licensing fees and requiring in-person enrollment for the first 18 months, but complete it could be considered a win for sports lovers. It’s always welcome news if a country eventually gets around to regulating and taxing an activity that has been already taking place underground via local bookies and offshore gambling sites.
Mobile Sports Betting in Illinois
Casinos, racetracks and stadiums that obtain sports betting licenses are going to be able to launch mobile programs under their own brand names. Casinos and racetracks will have the ability to accept clients from across the country while stadiums will have a 5-block radius where they may accept wagers through mobile apps.
There are two key provisions associated with cellular betting in IL that will inconvenience some bettors, but even these issues will likely be resolved with the passing of time.
First, customers will be required to enroll in-person with a certified sportsbook before betting online. This usually means you ought to visit a nearby casino or racetrack to register for an account and confirm your identity. Once you get that out of the way, you’re going to have the ability to wager at your convenience from a licensed mobile program.
Secondly, individual online-only operators will probably be banned from entering the market for the initial 18 months till they associate with an area casino. If an internet operator chooses to go that path, it is necessary by law to run under the brand name of this casino that is online.
Online operators may also choose to wait 18 months and then apply for one of three cellular betting licenses. Operators that decide to go that path will be allowed to run under their own brand names, but they will be playing catchup after sitting outside for a year and a half.
The fantastic news is the two terms are set to expire after 18 weeks. Eventually, you are going to have the ability to enroll online from any place in the state and also place wagers via websites including FanDuel and DraftKings if they haven’t already partnered with a local casino or racetrack.
Illinois Sportsbooks
Under the new sports betting law, Illinois casinos and racetracks will be permitted to use for sports gambling licenses. These licenses will authorize the construction of in-person sportsbooks as well as the launch of cellular betting apps.
Licensing fees for casinos and racetracks are set to be priced according to 5% of each operator adjusted gross receipts but max out at $10 million. Expensive or not, most if not all the state’s casinos are very likely to apply for licenses. Pennsylvania established a similarly costly licensing strategy and though PA casinos originally balked at paying that much to offer what is essentially a low-revenue kind of gaming, they ended up using for permits one .
Sportsbooks in Stadiums
One of the more unique aspects of the IL sports gambling law is a provision allowing up to seven sports stadiums to apply for licenses to operate sportsbooks. Stadiums that obtain these permits will be allowed to take wagers in-person as well through mobile devices inside a five-block radius.
Sports Betting Kiosks
The Illinois Lottery has also been authorized to go into the sports betting business to a limited level. Under the law, the IL Lottery could put up to 2,500 sports gambling kiosks throughout the state over the initial year of this law being in effect. Following that, the lottery could put an extra 2,500 kiosks within the course of the following year to bring the total to 5,000 machines.
IL Lottery betting kiosks won’t be permitted to offer full-fledged sports betting; they may just offer you parlay-style wagers. The specifics of exactly how those wagers would work still need to get exercised, however, the basic gist with parlays is players need to pick the outcomes of two matches in return for getting better payout odds than wagering on just a single match.
Key Illinois Sports Betting Rules
The Illinois Gaming Board and Department of Lottery have been tasked with drawing up regulations as needed to enforce the brand new sports betting law, but the law itself also comprises a range of key rules that we all know will be in place once the first sportsbooks and betting sites go live.
In-person sportsbooks authorized? Yes
Mobile and online sports gambling authorized? Yes
Where will gambling take place? Casinos, racetracks and sports stadiums may apply for permits to operate on site sportsbooks and also to Provide online betting
Sports betting kiosks: Illinois Lottery may operate up to 5,000 kiosks which can accept parlay-style wagers only Minimum age to bet on sports in IL: 21
Limited Events: No wagers permitted on Illinois school teams, minor league occasions and K-12 events Restricted Wagers: Pro sports teams can request the Illinois Gaming Board to prohibit certain Kinds of wagers If They’re worried such wagers can impact the integrity of the games Information Mandate: Licensed operators must purchase official data in the leagues for settling in-play wagers
Tax rate: 15 percent on adjusted gross sports wagering receipts
Additional local tax: An additional 2 percent tax will be collected from operators located in counties with a population in excess of 3 million. Money collected from this tax will go to support that county’s criminal justice system.
Self-exclusion: The Illinois Gaming Board and Department of the Lottery will Establish a voluntary self-exclusion program for people Who Would like to restrict themselves from wagering
Past Efforts to Legalize Sports Betting in IL
Illinois’ latest move to legalize sports gambling is not the nation’s first attempt — lawmakers and industry stakeholders have been considering the issue for quite a while.
The two bills were introduced in 2018 seeking to legalize sports gambling in the event the Supreme Court overturned the national prohibition (which it did). HB 4214 was a simple placeholder bill while SB 2478 could have generated the Sports Betting Consumer Protection Act.
SB 2478 lacked information regarding regulations, licensing conditions and tax rates and handed the forming of regulations to some state agency. Which agency that could have been left unsaid in the bill, but that too was decided at a later point. The purpose in the short term was to only end the state-level prohibition of sports betting and then find out the rest after.
A reading of the complete text of the bill reveals the writers also pictured online sports gambling being legalized. The invoice referred to »digital » sports betting no fewer than 29 times as a potential form of betting that would be governed by the state agency eventually delegated to regulate the business.
The support of neighborhood casinos helped improve the chances of sports gambling coming to Illinois, however, casinos were somewhat slower to talk on the situation. However, Arlington Racecourse sounded open to this thought as it advised the Daily Herald it would like a casino to proceed with sports gambling:
« If we are treated equally with the casinos and we’ve slots and table games, » Arlington GM Tony Petrillo explained, »and then we’ve sports gambling, that’s a venture that would be quite plausible for this land. »
The 2018 efforts to legalize IL sports betting failed to yield outcomes in the brief term, but new laws enacted in 2019 built on these first efforts to turn that dream into a reality. Early disappointments have finally turned into actions with lawmakers finally getting fully on board with lawful sports gambling.
Fantasy Sports
Real money fantasy sports gambling is legal in the federal level as a result of an exemption from the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006. The UIGEA determined fantasy sports to be a competition of skill rather than luck because betting outcomes do not depend on a single game or the performance of an individual participant.
State legislation also welcome dream sports so all the major US companies that offer fantasy betting are readily available to residents. You are welcome to sign up, deposit and win real cash at any of the websites listed above.
If you are not familiar with daily fantasy betting, this is a form of wagering in which you pick from all of the players in the league (it could be NFL, MLB, NBA, etc.) and draft a team of about 9 people depending on the sport. A digital salary limit is enforced, which compels you to make tough decisions when determining how to fill your roster.
As soon as you have a team, all you have to do is wait patiently for that week’s matches to play in the real world. When the actual players score points and also collect stats in the actual world, your dream team earns points. At the end of it all, the individual whose fantasy team gets the most points wins the contest.
You’re able to play in small contests where you pit your team against a single opponent, medium contests with 3, 4 or even 20 opponents or massive tournaments with hundreds or even thousands of different people. Your goal is to make as many points with your staff as possible and acquire a real money payout.
Illinois has an interesting bit of case law history regarding fantasy sports. In 2013, New York resident Chris Langone introduced a suit against FanDuel.com in Illinois court. He sought to assert more than $500,000 in earnings from FanDuel and one of its clients under an old Illinois legislation known as the Illinois reduction Act.
The Reduction Act is an old piece of anti-gambling legislation that makes gambling losses recoverable by the failure if the losses amount to more than $50. If six months pass and the sufferer does not claim the losses, anyone may recover those losses in court. Here is the important Part of law:
(a) Any person who by betting shall lose to some other person, any sum of money or thing of value, amounting to the sum of $50 or more and shall pay or deliver the exact same or any part thereof, may sue for and recover the cash or anything of value, therefore lost and paid or delivered, at a civil action against the winner , with costs, at the circuit court…
(b) If in 6 months, such person who under the conditions of Subsection 28-8(a) is eligible to initiate actions to recoup his losses doesn’t actually pursue his remedy, any person may commence a civil action against the winner. The court or the jury, as the case may be, shall ascertain the total amount of the reduction. After such determination, the court shall enter a decision of triple the amount so determined.
The lawsuit was eventually thrown out due to Langone failing to meet the minimum brink of depositing cash and since FanDuel itself cannot be regarded as a »winner of gaming » since it simply functions as a middleman between bettors.
Are fantasy sports legal in Illinois?
The significant fantasy sports websites all operate in Illinois and the country is home to many people who perform daily, but the legality of all DFS has not yet been completely, 100% settled together with legislation. Back in December of 2015, Attorney General Lisa Madigan issued an opinion that daily fantasy sports violate Illinois law, but no further action was taken and the major DFS sites have continued to function openly since then.
Some lawmakers have also sought to push legislation that would legalize and regulate daily fantasy sports or outlaw the activity altogether. House Bill 4323 introduced 2015 and debated in 2016 could have formally legalized fantasy sports with the creation of the Fantasy Sports Contest Act, but that bill was shelved in 2016 and eventually died altogether in ancient 2017.
A separate bill additionally introduced 2016 sought to move things in the opposite direction and classify the performance of a dream website for a crime. Luckily, that bill also died in early 2017.
As it stands today, daily fantasy sports are explicitly authorized nor illegal in Illinois. The current status quo works well for operators and players, but it’ll be wonderful to eventually find the issue firmly settled one way or another.
Several DFS legalization bills have been introduced in the intervening years, but none have yet made it into law. Early 2018 watched some action on a dream sports bill, but excitement for this bill expired and there have been no significant changes since. Despite the AG’s 2015 view that DFS sites run afoul of Illinois gambling legislation, the major daily fantasy sites do accept clients the state.
Lottery
Illinois was the first nation to carry its lottery to the net after a federal judge ruled that it could be lawful for states to achieve that. The IL Online Lottery went live in 2012 and the web site enables residents to create an account and buy individual tickets for Powerball, Mega Millions and Lotto.
Any state resident 18 or older may register an account there and purchase tickets or subscribe to subscriptions for automatic purchases. Winnings under $600 are credited directly to your own lottery accounts and may subsequently be pulled right to your bank account. Should you win more than $600, the nation lottery claims department will contact you with instructions for claiming your money.
Here is something else interesting: the Illinois lottery is mainly responsible for nations now being able to legalize online poker and gambling. In 2009, Illinois and New York requested the Department of Justice to explain its position on the Wire Act of 1961. Both states had plans to sell tickets on line but were uncertain if this strategy would run afoul of federal law.
It took the Dept. of Justice two decades to react but it was worth every second of the wait. Not only did the DOJ approve of online lotteries, but it ruled that the Wire Act applies only to sports betting. This choice is what paved the way for states including New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware to legalize internet casino poker and games.
Online Poker and Casinos in Illinois
Illinois was flirting with the concept of online gaming legalization for years now. One attempt came in 2013 when a significant rewrite of the state’s gambling laws contained a bit about playing, regulating and taxing online casino and poker games. Legislators yanked the part about online gambling before the bill has been passed the subsequent month.
For a period after the 2013 announcement failed, there wasn’t any word or indication that online gaming would return to Illinois any time shortly besides Senate President John Cullerton once calling internet gambling inescapable. If the people of Illinois will be playing and gambling poker online anyways, why should not the state get a cut? It would be better to regulate it, enact better defenses for gamers and keep those tax dollars stateside. This was the simple argument anyways.
Cullerton’s attempt to incorporate online gambling into the 2013 bill ultimately failed, however, he says he is not out yet. He will continue to push the thought and make something happen for the players of Illinois. He also stated that internet gaming probably won’t come to Illinois until lawmakers finalize and enact legislation to permit the construction of fresh land-based casinos at the state.
In the end, he stated, internet gaming represents an easy source of cash for authorities in all states. Lawmakers have the power to create a new industry overnight and create a new source of revenue without increasing taxes. The people today want the freedom to spend their money how they and say lawmakers such as the notion of additional revenue.
Online Gambling Bill Passes from the Illinois Senate
The next major break for internet gaming in Illinois came about suddenly in May of 2017. With little warning, language legalizing online gambling and online poker has been added to a daily fantasy sports bill at the behest of local riverboat casino interests.
According to local news reports, existing casinos in Illinois view daily fantasy sports as a rival company model and were originally opposed to laws regulating fantasy sports. However, those casinos’d been considering expanding to online gaming for quite a while. They were able to strike a deal with lawmakers and get the online gaming language added to the fantasy sports invoice.
In addition to creating customer protection regulations for everyday fantasy sports, the altered bill seeks to legalize online gaming and issue permits to operators. Present casinos, horse racing tracks and ADW operators will be licensed to apply for licenses to get a program fee of $250,000 and a licensing fee of $10 million. Operators will be allowed to offset the hefty licensing fee against future taxes collected on gaming revenue.
The bill had been put to a vote in the Illinois Senate in May and passed by a vote of 42-10, but stalled at the home.
Is it legal to play at offshore casinos or poker sites?
Article 28 of the Illinois Criminal Code seems to prohibit the mere act of playing poker or wagering on matches. The code doesn’t specifically mention the World Wide Web, but it could be interpreted to apply to gambling on games everywhere using the following text:
(a) A person commits gambling when he or she:
(1) knowingly plays a game of skill or chance for money or other thing of value, unless excepted in subsection (b) of this Section;
(2) knowingly makes a wager on the result of almost any match, competition, or even any political nomination, election or appointment;
However, Illinois has never prosecuted a person for playing games on the internet. The country is home to some very high-profile poker players including the likes of Taylor Caby, who has made millions of dollars playing online poker and running the poker coaching website CardRunners.com. There probably isn’t much legal risk associated with playing offshore poker rooms or casinos.
Even so, we don’t advise our subscribers to play for real money at unlicensed poker sites. The legal threat may be small, but it’s not zero. There is also a substantial financial risk associated with playing on sites that nevertheless accept Americans against US gaming legislation. The Department of Justice has show

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