Illinois Gambling: A Comprehensive Guide

In 2019, Illinois updated its laws and is now becoming a top place for gambling enthusiasts. With pari-mutuel horse track betting, land-based casinos, exciting VLT gambling halls, and all kinds of other stop-you-in-your-tracks opportunities for wagering, the sixth most populous state in the U.S. offers something for every kind of gambler. Programmers have cranked out online betting platforms to satisfy even the most insatiable jones for sports betting. And with even more in-person and remote opportunities on the way, seasoned wagering veterans and new players alike are flocking to the Land of Lincoln to explore the burgeoning gambling universe.

Illinois residents can experience the exhilarating online gambling world anytime they wish! You can spin the reels at a premier online casino, make a well-thought-out bet on a sport you love, or play fast-paced poker against real people—all in real time. Even though the state doesn’t have its own licensed online casinos or regulated poker sites, a number of safe and secure platforms operate just offshore, offering Illinois residents the same opportunities as their east and west coast gaming friends.

Every game presents its own special high, so there’s never a lull. When it comes to poker, it’s all about strategy and trying to read your opponents. One moment you’re thinking many steps ahead, and the next you’re just trying to keep your heart from pounding too loudly (in case you’re not going so well). Betting on live sports is as close as most of us will ever come to feeling like an athlete. And then there are all the other games, each with their own “hook,” for lack of a better term.

Prepared to leap into the world of online gambling? It’s a thrilling space to inhabit, and it’s easy to get started. Just select a site you can trust, stake your claim (virtually, of course), and let those virtual dice fly! With your next big win possibly just a click away, there has rarely been a time more ripe for online betting.

In Illinois, I’m lucky to have access to a wide range of legal gambling options. Whether I want to bet on horse races, play the lottery, try my luck at video lottery terminals, or visit one of the land-based casinos, there’s always a legal game available. Since 2020, land-based sportsbooks, online sports betting, and mobile sports betting apps have also been fully legal, giving me even more ways to bet.

There’s still an ongoing effort to legalize online casinos and online poker, but for now, the best options for online casino and poker betting are the offshore sites.

Offering a wide array of choices, Illinois has a total of 10 terrestrial casinos located in 9 major municipalities, where gamblers can go for some in-person wagering. The land-based casinos are in these locations:

• Hollywood Casino Aurora
• Grand Victoria Casino Elgin
• Harrah’s Metropolis
• DraftKings at Casino Queen in East St. Louis
• Rivers Casino Des Plaines
• Hollywood Casino Joliet
• Harrah’s Joliet Casino & Hotel

With these in-state choices, residents of Illinois can partake in a splendid gaming experience that would otherwise necessitate crossing the borders to nearby Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, or even further to MGM Detroit or Greektown Casino in Michigan.

Online casino gaming remains a somewhat hazy situation in Illinois. Although there isn’t any legal online gaming for residents right now, that hasn’t stopped a number of them from playing at offshore casino sites such as Bovada, Ignition, Cafe Casino, and Slots.lv. These sites are as safe as any you’ll find, and they provide a nice little kicker to the regular casino gaming that’s available in Illinois.

Throughout Illinois, one can find video gaming terminals (VGTs), which many other states refer to as video lottery terminals (VLTs). Each of Illinois’s 102 counties can choose whether to permit this kind of gambling, with the end result being that VGTs are found in many of Illinois’s public drinking establishments and dining venues.

Although a few counties have achieved success in countering legalization through effective local anti-gambling efforts, many players simply cross over into adjacent counties where they can enjoy VGTs. Arena owners assert that the existence of these machines is crucial to their business, and to the economy of the state, during hard times—even if the COVID-19 pandemic did take a toll on Illinois’s VLT industry. But local gamblers still have an affinity for VGTs.

The landmark 2019 bill made Illinois sports betting legal and fully licensed. It opened the door for online sportsbooks like Rivers Casino (BetRivers) and PointsBet to start taking bets in the state.

Only six years ago, DraftKings and FanDuel faced legal challenges from the state over whether daily fantasy sports could be played legally here. Today, DFS is completely legal, and both companies have moved on to offer complete online sportsbooks. They, and all the other major sportsbooks, certainly don’t overlook the opportunity to feature traditional forms of betting. But in what follows, we focus mostly on the ways these books have embraced the continued evolution of betting, especially on live in-play betting, which is increasingly done through a mobile app.

In an authentic indication of the times, DraftKings even has a foothold at the Casino Queen in East St. Louis. The Illinois sports betting market has certainly progressed a great deal!

The board that oversees and regulates the horse racing industry in Illinois is the Illinois Racing Board. Ensuring that the industry runs smoothly, the board has its work cut out in a state that boasts six race tracks:

• Arlington Park in Arlington Heights
• Hawthorne Race Course in Cicero
• Fairmount Park in Collinsville
• DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in Du Quoin
• Brown County Fairgrounds in Mount Sterling
• Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield

Along with these tracks, Illinois provides off-track betting (OTB). There are 20 cities and towns state-wide where you can enjoy OTB, for instance, Alton, Aurora, Bolingbrook, Chicago (two locations), Crestwood, Hodgkins, Hoffman Estates, Joliet, McHenry, Mokena, Normal, North Aurora, Oakbrook Terrace, Orland Hills, Prospect Heights, Rockford, Sauget, South Elgin, Springfield, Villa Park, and Waukegan. It’s clear that Illinois offers ample opportunity for fans of horse racing!

Brick-and-Mortar Casinos:

Illinois has come a long way from its riverboat casino days. Not long ago, casinos in Illinois were just that: boats bobbing up and down on the rivers of the state. Now, however, you can find casinos on land, in towns and cities across the state, and they are a much-ballyhooed part of the transition from riverboats to full-service casinos on terra firma. These new casinos are really something, too, with large hotels, exciting concert venues, and a variety of bars and restaurants that allow them to be, in every sense of the word, complete entertainment destinations. And if there’s any question that the hotel-casino-concert-venue-restaurant complex is now firmly entrenched in Illinois, just look at the numbers welcoming more than 10 million visitors a year.

Poker Rooms:

Illinois offers several casinos with the opportunity to play poker, and there are even some with poker rooms. They cater very much like the restaurants that our state laws require—in that they must first ask players if they want to sit down, and then they must deal the cards in compliance with our state’s rules, as with any other game. These rules are there to keep things safe, fun, and (mostly) legal. And in thanks for those rules, they also keep our private poker games safe and legal, as long as we follow a few guidelines.

Horse Race Betting:

Wagering on horse races through a pari-mutuel system is permitted in Illinois, as long as it occurs within an authorized setting. The state offers a balance of six tracks and 21 off-track betting establishments where you can momentarily part with your cash in order to potentially recoup more. Among these tracks are Fairmount Park, in East St. Louis, and the State Fairgrounds in Springfield—two altogether ample spots to catch a few galloping horses and place the occasional bet.

Dog Race Betting:

Although there is no outright ban on the sport of dog racing in Illinois, dog tracks in the state are no longer in operation. Only five states in the U.S. allow dog racing, which makes a return to the Illinois track scene seem very unlikely in the near future. So, for the time being, if you want to see a race in Illinois, your best bet is to see a horse cross the finish line.

Lottery:

The Illinois Lottery provides a multitude of avenues to play and triumph. From instant tickets you can scratch off to daily drawings, there’s enough thrill for any enthusiast. And if you’re not content with the regular offerings, you can join in the excitement of the biweekly, multi-state jackpot drawings like Mega Millions and Powerball for a chance at an astronomical payday!

Daily Fantasy Sports:

In 2015, the previous attorney general in Illinois prohibited daily fantasy sports. When the state allowed sports betting in 2020, they also allowed daily fantasy sports. Now you can bet on sports in person at a casino or using a sports betting app, but it’s also now perfectly legal to play daily fantasy sports in Illinois. And you can do that legally with a number of partners using the same kind of apps or at the same kind of casinos where you’d place a sports or parlay bet.

Charitable Gaming:

Illinois has a vibrant network of opportune charitable gaming. If an organization is eligible, such as a charity, an educational institution, a religious group, a fraternity or sorority, a labor group, or a veterans’ organization, it can host fundraising gambling events. And what types of gambling can these entities offer? Fourteen activities are permitted under Illinois law, including:

• b-i-n-g-o:
• keno:
• pull tabs:
• chuck-a-luck:
• Beat the Dealer:
• Big Six:
• Bang:
• gin rummy;

– and casino nights with games such as roulette, blackjack, craps, poker, five-card stud poker, and Hold’em.

Social Gambling:

In bars across Illinois, the video gaming terminals (VGTs) support a budding social gambling scene. Since their arrival in 2012, the machines have generated more and more revenue. By 2017, they had actually surpassed riverboat gambling in terms of revenue, which forced lawmakers to update the state’s casino laws. As the VGTs’ social popularity continues to rise, these updates in legislation might very well follow suit.

Online Casinos and Poker:

Although Illinois has legalized various types of gambling, it has not yet seen the regulation of online casinos or poker. Consequently, these two forms of gambling still exist in an unregulated market. Residents who wish to play poker or gamble at an online casino do so on sites based offshore. There is a bill that seeks to regulate these two activities, but so far it has not made it through the legislative session.

Well time to go and spin for the win with our online casinos here in Illinois!