Illinois Betting

Online sports betting is regulated by the Illinois Gaming Board; bettors must be 21+ and in-state, with mobile ~95% of wagers. Legal online horse-race ADW operates under the Illinois Racing Board (18+). Illinois was an early enforcer against prediction markets: the IGB sent cease-and-desist orders to Kalshi and others in April 2025 and the state passed SB 3019 (2026) to license/tax sports-event contracts; Kalshi has sued on federal-preemption grounds — classified prohibited per the state posture.

Factual reviews and updates on the status of legal betting in Illinois.

The first IL sportsbooks launched in March 2020 and were followed by mobile betting three months later. Now, fans can bet on sports online or in-person with sportsbooks that safe, legal and licensed.

Illinois now has a variety of gambling and sports betting options available both online and in-person. Land-based casinos, racetracks with casinos (racinos) and the state lottery comprise the state’s in-person options.

Online betting options include sports betting, daily fantasy sports, horse racing betting and the IL Online Lottery.

Illinois has traditionally taken a progressive stance on gambling and was one of the first states to authorize riverboat casinos back in 1991. The casinos authorized by the major gambling expansion bill of 2019 have since opened, among them Hard Rock Casino Rockford, American Place in Waukegan, Walker’s Bluff Casino Resort and Wind Creek Chicago Southland.

There are also two operating permanent racetracks in Illinois and they too have been authorized to add casino games and slots.

Illinois Betting Sites

21+ and present in IL. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

Legal Online Sports Betting in Illinois

The Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) oversees Illinois online sports betting across the state. Among other duties, the IGB is responsible for adopting online wagering regulations, issuing licenses and ensuring operators conform to state law.

The first IL mobile sportsbooks launched in mid-2020 to commence online wagering across the state. Customers must be 21 or older and located within state lines to participate.

The licensed Illinois sports betting sites and online sportsbook apps are:

• bet365

• BetMGM

• BetRivers Sportsbook

• Caesars Sportsbook

• Circa Sports

• DraftKings

• theScore Bet Sportsbook

• Fanatics Sportsbook

• FanDuel Sportsbook

• Hard Rock Bet Sportsbook

Here’s what else Illinois bettors need to know about IL online sports betting:

• Mobile betting launch date: June 2020; law allows licensed casinos to take their sportsbooks online any time now but some will need more time than others to be ready

• Minimum age to bet online: 21

• Location/residency requirements: Bettors must be physically located within state lines at the time wagers are placed; state residency is not required

• In-person registration: required at first, but the requirement ended on March 5, 2022

• College betting restriction: Illinois sportsbooks may take wagers on college games, but no wagers of any kind on sports events involving an Illinois collegiate team - the temporary in-person exception for Illinois college games expired on July 1, 2024

Illinois Betting Licensees and Applicants

The IGB publishes the only list of operators authorized to take sports wagers in Illinois.

Licensed Mobile Sportsbooks

Casinos and racetracks that hold IL sportsbook licenses may offer statewide mobile betting either on their own or in partnership with a third-party operator.

Additionally, IL state sports betting law allows the Board to license online sports wagering operators directly, so an online Illinois betting site need not be tethered to a land-based facility.

Sports facilities seating more than 17,000 - or more than 10,000 in Chicago - may also apply for one of seven licenses to run a sportsbook at the venue or within a five-block radius.

The IL Gaming Board (IGB) maintains an up-to-date list of licensed betting sites that sports bettors can check to verify the legal status of any particular operator.

Retail Sportsbooks in Illinois

Legislation approved in 2019 allows casinos, racetracks and stadiums to apply for licenses to launch in-person sportsbooks.

The retail sportsbooks authorized by the IGB to operate in Illinois are:

• Bet Rivers Sportsbook at Rivers Casino Des Plaines

• The Sportsbook at Argosy Casino Alton

• Caesars Sportsbook at Grand Victoria Casino

• DraftKings at Casino Queen Sportsbook

• Penalty Box Sportsbook & Bar at Hollywood Casino Aurora

• The Sportsbook at Hollywood Casino Joliet

• Fanatics Sportsbook at Hawthorne Race Course

• Par-A-Dice Sportsbook

• The Circa Sportsbook at American Place Casino

• Hard Rock Bet Hard Rock Casino Rockford

• Bally Bet Sportsbook in the Quad Cities

• Wind Creek Chicago Southland’s Sportsbook

Sportsbooks at Casinos

Ten existing casinos plus the six additional casinos authorized under the 2019 gaming expansion law may apply for sports betting licenses. Casinos that qualify for sports betting licenses include:

• Rivers Casino Des Plaines

• Par-A-Dice Casino

• Grand Victoria Casino

• Argosy Casino

• Jumer’s Casino

• Casino Queen East St. Louis

• Harrah’s Joliet Chicago

• Harrah’s Metropolis

• Hollywood Casino Aurora

• Hollywood Casino Joliet

Sportsbooks at Racetracks

• Fairmount Park (FanDuel Sportsbook)

• Hawthorne Race Course (Fanatics Sportsbook)

Stadium Sportsbooks

The 2019 IL gaming expansion law calls for up to seven Illinois betting licenses to be issued to sports facilities seating more than 17,000 - or more than 10,000 in Chicago. Venues that have met that threshold include:

• Wrigley Field (partnered with DraftKings for a sportsbook in or near the stadium)

• Guaranteed Rate Field

• Soldier Field

• United Center

• SeatGeek Stadium

• Chicagoland Speedway

• World Wide Technology Raceway

• AllState Arena

IL Sports Betting Law and Regulations

Sports betting was legalized with the passage of SB 690 in 2019, and the portion relevant to wagering has been codified as the Sports Wagering Act (230 ILCS 45).

The Sports Wagering Act laid the groundwork for the conduct of sports betting in Illinois and the IGB has since issued additional regulations to further refine the rules.

Together, the Sports Wagering Act and additional regulations establish the conditions under which operators may be licensed, how the Illinois betting industry is taxed and how operators must conduct themselves to ensure a safe environment for consumers.

Some of the most noteworthy rules and regulations follow.

Illinois Lottery Sports Betting Kiosks

The 2019 gaming expansion bill granted the IL Lottery authorization to enter the Illinois sports betting business on a trial basis.

Under that law the IL Lottery could have placed up to 2,500 sports betting terminals at authorized lottery retailer locations in the first year and a further 2,500 after the second year, for a total of 5,000.

The Illinois Lottery sports wagering pilot was never launched and the section of the Sports Wagering Act that authorised it was repealed on January 1, 2024.

Horse Racing Betting in Illinois

Horse racing betting is legal in Illinois at licensed racetracks, off-track betting facilities (OTBs) and online betting sites (advance deposit wagering operators or “ADWs”).

The Illinois Racing Board (IRB) governs the racing industry throughout the state and is in charge of enforcing the Illinois Horse Racing Act of 1975 (230 ILCS 5).

IRB duties include but are not limited to issuing Illinois betting licenses to tracks, OTBs, betting sites and personnel, setting race day schedules for licensed tracks, ensuring the integrity of the racing industry and collecting taxes.

Illinois Racetracks

Horse races and trackside betting are authorized at two operating permanent racetracks and the state fairs.

• Fairmount Park

• Hawthorne Race Course

State Fairs:

• Brown County Fair

• Springfield State Fair

• DuQuoin State Fair

Off-Track Betting Locations

Under state law, each Illinois racetrack organization licensee may operate up to a certain number of OTB locations:

• A Cook County organization licensee may operate up to 18 OTBs

• Fairmount Park may operate up to 9 OTBs (currently operating 3)

• Hawthorne Race Course may operate up to 16 OTBs (currently operating 11)

Licensed ADW Betting Sites

Advance deposit wagering is legal in Illinois for customers 18 or older and state residents. Racing fans can verify the licensing status of any IL racing betting site on the IRB website.

The Racing Board licenses advance deposit wagering operators and publishes the current list on its website.

• Hawthorne Race Course (clubhawthorne.com)

• NYRA Bets (NYRAbets.com)

• TVG / FanDuel Racing (TVG.com)

• TwinSpires / BetAmerica (twinspires.com)

• Xpressbet (xpressbet.com)

• AmWager (amwager.com)

• Off Track Betting / Race Bet Win (offtrackbetting.com)

• DK Horse / DraftKings Racing (racing.draftkings.com)

IL Daily Fantasy Sports

The legality of daily fantasy sports in Illinois went unsettled for a decade. Even so, the major daily fantasy sites operated openly in Illinois for years with little pushback from state officials or law enforcement.

In 2015, then-Attorney General Lisa Madigan issued an opinion that daily fantasy sports sites constitute illegal gambling and therefore violate Illinois law. The opinion concluded as follows:

“It is my opinion that the daily fantasy sports contests offered by FanDuel and DraftKings clearly constitute gambling under subsection 28-1(a) of the Criminal Code of 2012…

“Absent legislation specifically exempting daily fantasy sports contests from the gambling provisions, it is my opinion that daily fantasy sports contests constitute illegal gambling under Illinois law.”

Illinois finally settled the question in 2026: Public Act 104-468 added a fantasy contest licensing regime to the Sports Wagering Act, so an operator now needs a fantasy contest operator licence from the Illinois Gaming Board to offer contests in the state.

The biggest penalty DFS operators are likely to face has already come to pass. During the leadup to Illinois legalize sports betting, officials representing local casino interests lobbied lawmakers to include a “bad actor” clause excluding online operators such as FanDuel and DraftKings from participating in the market due to their insistence on offering DFS despite the 2015 AG opinion.

Although the lobbying effort to exclude online-first operators was quite likely motivated by a desire to keep the competition out, FanDuel and DraftKings’ refusal to stop offering DFS in Illinois handed local operators a handy cover story. Ultimately, lawmakers decided to write an 18-month waiting period for online-first operators into the law.

Illinois Gambling Expansion

The legislation that legalized sports betting in Illinois was just one piece of a sweeping gaming expansion law that also deals with casinos, video gaming machines, games at airports and a host of other non-gambling issues.

SB 690 was signed into law by Governor JB Pritzker in 2019 and is now enrolled as Public Act 101-0031.

The 800+ page bill is not an easy read, but key points from the bill include:

• Licensed sportsbooks may also offer mobile betting apps

• IL Lottery was authorized to operate sports wagering terminals under a pilot that has since been repealed

• Licenses will be issued for up to six new casinos in certain locations: Chicago, Danville, Waukegan, Rockford, south suburban Cook County and Williamson County in southern Illinois

• Businesses may now host up to 6 video gaming machines

• Maximum wager at video gaming machines increased from $2 to $4

• Maximum cash award raised from $500 to $1,199 and allows an in-location progressive jackpot of up to $10,000

• Authorizes up to 50 video gaming machines at the Fairgrounds during the Illinois State Fair and up to 30 machines at the DuQuoin State Fair

• Allows casino gambling at racetracks; Arlington Park and Hawthorne Race Course authorized to operate up to 1,200 “positions” (each seat being a seat at a table or a slot machine) and Fairmount Park to operate up to 900 positions

• Authorizes a standardbred racetrack and casino in one of the following Cook County towns: Bloom, Bremen, Calumet, Orland, Rich, Thornton or Worth

• Authorizes gaming at Chicago airports for customers who are 21 or older and members of a private club