Legal, regulated sports betting is available in Illinois to anyone 21 or older and located within its borders.
Legislation signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2019 authorized mobile sports betting apps and retail sportsbooks at casinos, racetracks, and sports stadiums.
The IL sports betting law originally called for in-person registration, requiring users to register an account in-person at a casino before placing online wagers. However, executive orders signed by Governor Pritzker in response to the COVID-19 pandemic temporarily ended the in-person registration requirement.
Currently, Illinois permits mobile registration from licensed sportsbook apps. Residents and visitors to the state may now sign up to bet online from anywhere within state lines.
Illinois Betting Sites
Illinois permits online horse racing betting, lottery ticket purchases, and daily fantasy sports for 18 or older customers.
Mobile Sports Betting in Illinois
Mobile sports betting is legal and operational in Illinois. The launch of the BetRivers Sportsbook in June 2020 kicked off the legal online and mobile wagering era in Illinois.
Online sportsbooks that are now open or close to opening:
- BetRivers Sportsbook
- DraftKings Sportsbook
- FanDuel Sportsbook
- PointsBet Sportsbook
- William Hill Sportsbook
- Unibet Sportsbook (coming soon)
- Barstool Sportsbook (coming soon)
- Golden Nugget (land-based casino with online betting in development)
Casinos, racetracks, and stadiums that hold sports betting licenses may launch mobile apps under their brand names. Casinos and racetracks licensees may accept customers from across the state, while stadiums have a 5-block radius in which they may accept wagers in-person or through mobile apps.
Illinois Retail Sportsbooks
Casinos, racetracks, off-track betting facilities (OTBs) and seven of the state’s largest sports stadiums may launch on-premises sportsbooks under IL law.
Eight retail sportsbooks have launched to date, seven of them at casinos. Additional sportsbooks at racetracks and stadiums are also set to launch in the future.
- BetRivers Sportsbook at Rivers Casino Des Plaines
- Sportsbook at Argosy Casino Alton
- DraftKings Sportsbook at Casino Queen
- FanDuel Sportsbook at Par-A-Dice Casino
- William Hill Sportsbook at Grand Victoria Casino
- The Sportsbook at Hollywood Casino Joliet
- The Sportsbook at Hollywood Casino Aurora
- PointsBet Sportsbook at Hawthorne Race Course
Illinois Sports Betting Law
Illinois legalized sports betting with the passage of SB 690 in June 2019.
Under SB 690 (pg. 226), Illinois may issue licenses to casinos, racetracks, off-track betting facilities (OTBs), and large sports betting venues to operate retail sportsbooks. Licensed casinos and racetracks may also offer statewide mobile betting while licensed stadiums may accept wagers either in-person or via mobile devices within a five-block radius.
Licensing fees for casinos and racetracks are priced according to a percentage of the previous years’ revenue up to a maximum of $10 million.
Online operators may either partner with a local land-based casino operator or wait for one of the three online-only licenses that will be issued 18 months after the launch of IL sports betting.
Key Illinois Sports Betting Rules
- Are in-person sportsbooks authorized? Yes
- Are online and mobile sports betting authorized? Yes
- Where may sports betting take place? Casinos, racetracks, and sports stadiums may apply for licenses to operate in-person sportsbooks and offer online betting
- Sports betting kiosks: Illinois Lottery may operate up to 5,000 kiosks that will accept parlay-style wagers only
- Minimum age to bet on sports in IL: 21
- Restricted Events: No wagers allowed on Illinois college teams, minor league events, and K-12 events
- Restricted Wagers: Pro sports teams may ask the Illinois Gaming Board to prohibit certain types of wagers if they are concerned such wagers will impact the integrity of their games
- Data Mandate: Licensed operators must purchase official data from the leagues for settling in-play wagers
- Tax rate: 15% on adjusted gross sports wagering receipts
- Additional local tax: An additional 2% tax to be collected from operators located in counties with a population above 3 million. Money collected from this tax is earmarked to support that county’s criminal justice system.
- Self-exclusion: The Illinois Gaming Board and Department of the Lottery maintain a voluntary self-exclusion program for people who wish to restrict themselves from wagering
Illinois currently prohibits wagers on games involving in-state college teams, but there is an effort underway to change that. A bill filed by Rep. Michael Zalewski in January 2021 would remove the current prohibition and allow gamblers to bet on Illinois college games. We will update this page if the bill makes significant progress.
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Horse Racing Betting in Illinois
Online horse racing betting is legal and licensed in Illinois. Lawmakers formally authorized horse racing betting by passing the Illinois Horse Racing Act of 1975. Later, Illinois legalized advance deposit wagering and established a licensing process for ADWs.
Today, Illinois is home to a robust horse racing industry with three permanent racetracks and numerous OTBs. Most of the country’s major online horse racing betting operators (ADWs) are licensed in Illinois as well, providing fans with many options to bet on horse races throughout the state.
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Illinois Fantasy Sports
A 2020 Illinois Supreme Court decision ruled daily fantasy is a contest of skill and, therefore, not subject to state laws on gambling, which is heavily regulated. As a result, the legality of fantasy sports was affirmed in Illinois.
The 2020 decision court decision countered a 2015 Attorney General opinion that found DFS contests meet the state’s definition of gambling and are therefore illegal under state law. Moving forward, fantasy sports contests are treated as contests of skill in Illinois.
This was not the first court case to have a significant impact on fantasy sports in Illinois. In 2013, New York resident Chris Langone brought a lawsuit against FanDuel.com in Illinois court. He sought to claim more than $500,000 in earnings from FanDuel, and one of its customers under an old Illinois law called the Illinois Loss Act.
The Loss Act is an old piece of anti-gambling legislation that makes gambling losses recoverable by the loser if the losses amount to more than $50. If six months pass and the victim doesn’t claim the losses, anyone may recover those losses in court. Here’s the applicable piece of the law:
(a) Any person who by gambling shall lose to any other person, any sum of money or thing of value, amounting to the sum of $50 or more and shall pay or deliver the same or any part thereof, may sue for and recover the money or other thing of value, so lost and paid or delivered, in a civil action against the winner thereof, with costs, in the circuit court. . . .
(b) If within 6 months, such person who under the terms of Subsection 28-8(a) is entitled to initiate action to recover his losses does not in fact pursue his remedy, any person may initiate a civil action against the winner. The court or the jury, as the case may be, shall determine the amount of the loss. After such determination, the court shall enter a judgment of triple the amount so determined.
The lawsuit was eventually thrown out due to Langone failing to meet the minimum threshold of recoverable money, and because FanDuel itself cannot be considered a “winner of gambling” because it simply acts as a middleman between bettors.
Online Gambling in Illinois
Illinois has flirted with legalizing online casinos and poker sites since 2013, but all efforts to date have failed. As a result, online gambling remains prohibited, aside from sports betting and parimutuel horse racing betting.
An early effort in 2013 saw lawmakers add language authorizing online gambling and poker to a larger land-based gambling expansion bill. Lawmakers ended up stripping the bill of its online gambling provisions before the bill died in its entirety. Two placeholder bills, HB 1077 and HB 1078 were also introduced in 2013 and went nowhere.
Several years passed without significant developments. Online gambling hit the radar unexpectedly in May 2017 when language legalizing online gambling was added to a daily fantasy sports bill at the behest of local riverboat casino interests.
According to local news reports, casinos in Illinois viewed daily fantasy sports as a competing business model and were originally opposed to legislation regulating fantasy sports. However, those casinos had also been interested in expanding to online gaming for quite some time. They were able to strike a deal with lawmakers and get the online gaming language added to the fantasy sports bill.
In addition to creating consumer protection regulations for daily fantasy sports, the modified bill sought to legalize online gaming and issue licenses to operators. Existing casinos, horse racing tracks, and ADW operators would have been authorized to apply for licenses for an application fee of $250,000 and a $10 million licensing fee. Operators would have been permitted to offset the hefty licensing fee against future taxes collected on gaming revenue.
The bill was put to the Illinois Senate’s vote in May and passed by a vote of 42-10, but stalled in the House and eventually died there.