Illinois is one of the many US states to have relaxed gambling laws within recent years, with the state now permitting online and retail sports betting alongside horse racing and riverboat casinos. Charitable games are also allowed, as are bingo and raffles. However, several other forms of gambling are still prohibited in the Prairie State, and certain restrictions exist on the types that are allowed. Understanding what these restrictions are and when they are valid is crucial to staying away from prohibited gaming activities.
Gambling in Illinois is defined as “playing games of chance or skill for money or other things of value; wagering upon games, contests, or elections; owning or operating gambling devices.” Both live and off-track horse racing and pari-mutuel wagering is allowed in Illinois as long as operators remain licensed with the state’s racing control board. Riverboat gambling is also allowed on any navigable stream not found within counties that have over 3 million residents. Lake Michigan is a notable exception to the riverboat gambling permissions. (Find Law, 2016)
Illinois also allows retail and online sports betting for already existing land-based licensees, but restrictions on remote registration are in place for online sports betting. That means players can only access any of the six online sportsbooks in the state after carrying out in-person registration. The Illinois Gaming Board regulates sports betting, while the Illinois Lottery Control Board (ILCB) and the Department of the Lottery (DOL) control lotteries within the state.
Illinois Gambling History
As far as internet gaming is concerned, the state of Illinois does not have a regulated market. That’s not to say that the state doesn’t have any sort of gambling history, though. In 1920, Illinois legalized horse racing betting at local race tracks as its first major form of legal gambling.
That law was followed by the Riverboat Gambling Act of 1990. The Riverboat Gambling Act allowed commercial casinos to operate on boats as long as they were outside Lake Michigan, as well as counties with populations greater than 3 million. The state permitted local bars, restaurants, and drive-ins to host Illinois Lottery terminals in 2009. A new bill passed in 2019 allowed riverboat casinos to operate within specific locations in the state as fully licensed land-based casinos. There haven’t been any new gambling laws since then.
The land-based casino scene in Illinois includes 9 riverboat casinos and one land-based casino scattered around the state. These casinos offer over 10,000 slot machines and 500 table games combined. Rivers Casino became the first land-based casino in the state after being granted a land-based casino license in 2019. Before then, Rivers had qualified as a riverboat casino by building its property above a shallow pool of water. (Chicago Tribune, 2019)
Riverboat casinos in the state are allowed to operate live poker rooms but are prohibited from offering real money poker sites to residents. Live poker is also operated at charitable gaming venues.
Internet Gaming in Illinois
According to section 28 of the State Code, it is illegal for residents of Illinois to carry out unlicensed internet gambling operations. The law makes it outright impossible to set up an online casino business in Illinois, but it fails to state any form of punishment for residents who participate in online gaming with offshore sites.
The state of internet gaming in Illinois might be set for some change in the future as house bill SB-0007 continues to gain traction within legislative spaces. The bill, introduced back in 2017, seeks to expand land-based gaming and legalize online gambling within the state.
Sports Betting in Illinois
In June 2019, governor J.B Pritzker signed the sports betting bill into law, allowing retail and online sports betting in the state. The bill stated that online-only operators could only get their sports betting licenses after 18 months from when the bill was passed. Sportsbook operators in the state bypassed that waiting time by partnering with casino operators in the state for retail and online licenses. (ActionNetwork, 2021)
Illinois sports betting continues to rise in prominence, with the state now firmly establishing itself within the top five US sports betting markets. That rise has come in spite of restrictions placed on state-based college sports betting and remote registration for online betting.
How to take part in Illinois Gambling
Residents of Illinois can take part in any of the following legal forms of gambling:
- Casino gambling at any of the land-based casinos in the state.
- Retail sports betting
- Online Sports Betting (with in-person registration)
- Lotteries
- Charitable Bingo
- Horse Racing
Illinois law states that players must be at least 18 before they can take part in pari-mutuel wagering, bingo, and lotteries. The minimum age for casinos and sports betting is 21 years.
Sources
- Find Law, 2016 -https://statelaws.findlaw.com/illinois-law/illinois-gambling-laws.html
- Chicago Tribune, 2019 – https://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-rivers-casino-land-based-20191108-b4zc7v2clnbhfiqwqw5uyaznwm-story.html
- Action Network, 2021 – https://www.actionnetwork.com/online-sports-betting/illinois
