1. Online gambling is legal in Illinois as long as you are a resident and not a business entity. The Illinois Compiled Statutes does include a law regarding internet gambling, however, it is not directed toward bettors. 720 ILCS 5/28-1 states that those who reside in the state cannot establish internet sites with the intent of collecting wagers.
2. Illinois Gambling. Forms of legal online gambling. Online sports betting launched in June 2020; No plans for online casinos; No plans for online poker; Sports betting became legal in Illinois in June 2019 and led to the first retail sportsbooks opening in March 2020. The bill provides for both retail and online sports wagering.

Illinois has been one of the few states that have fueled the fire in the fight for legalized online gambling within the United States. They first attempted to pass online gambling legislation in 2012 but the bill failed to pass through to the committee to approve it. Another attempt came in 2013 but it failed in negotiations because it was attached to the contentious idea of adding more casinos to the state. Since then, the aims of online gambling legalization in the state of Illinois seem to have taken a more directed approach. Senate President John J. Cullerton is rumored to soon support a standalone bill to legalize online poker. Online poker was notably excluded from the DOJ’s formal opinion on the Federal Wire Act in 2011 that rendered only US-based sports betting to be illegal over the internet.

On the surface, it might appear that this law outright bans wagering online. Most feel that these laws are for anyone thinking about operating an online gambling site in the state. Many are also looking at how this applies to the state’s sports betting industry, considering Illinois lawmakers officially legalized online sports betting recently.

This guide was created to help citizens of Illinois understand the changing legal dynamics in the world of legal online gambling. Despite the state’s struggles with the legalization process, residents of Illinois still of legal options for online gambling that they may not have yet considered. Below you will find the legal details that are involved with placing legal real money bets with properly regulated offshore providers of online gambling entertainment.

Is Online Gambling Legal In Illinois?

Despite the fact that the state of Illinois has been struggling with the legalization of online gambling, residents of Illinois can legally gamble over the internet at any online gambling website that is properly regulated and located outside of the American federal jurisdiction. The legalization process is a fight over the impended business approval of online gambling businesses, not the right for citizens to actually place the bets. None of the existing USA federal gambling laws prohibit IL residents from enjoying licensed online gambling entertainment. In fact, there are no laws on the books in either the federal government or the Illinois state government that would restrict any resident from placing bets over the internet with properly regulated online gambling websites that find their location outside of US borders.

Legal Illinois Online Gambling Sites

All of these sites that we have listed here are appropriately licensed and regulated, in good standing with banking institutions around the world, are physically located outside of US federal jurisdiction, and have excellent customer satisfaction ratings. On the following gambling sites, you will see that they are properly sanctioned by regulatory bodies that exist in countries other than the United States. These websites as examples of what to expect in the industry-standard as you seek a legally sanctioned and high-quality sports destination at which to gamble online.

Other Illinois Gambling Pages

IL Online Gambling FAQs

Can I Play Real Money Casino Games Online In Illinois?

Real money online casino games are widely available to residents of Illinois. HTML5 has allowed programmers working for these online gambling websites to program in web apps that allow players a gaming experience that cuts down on internet download times and the requirement for hosting licenses that typically back up the process to releasing a game. Now, you have access to a wide range of US friendly online slots gaming options as well as table games such as Baccarat, Roulette, Video Poker and Blackjack along with other specialty games that include scratch cards made for the internet and keno. Live dealer games are also available to players at select licensed online casinos and provide a selection of real money games that are very similar to the games offered through a live visit to a brick and mortar casino. Our guide to Illinois online casinos will provide you with detailed information about how IL residents can legally and safely enjoy online casino games.

Can I Play Poker Online In Illinois?

Yes you can. Soon you may even be able to play state regulated online poker if IL moves forward with legislation to legalize online poker at a state level. For now, or until the legislature gets passed, you still have legal options for playing online poker at destinations that aren’t located within the United States. As long as a poker site is properly licensed and regulated, you will have access to the all the games and tournaments that you can find. There are Texas Hold’em, Omaha, HORSE, and all the variants of stud poker you could want. You will be able to find games with high or low stakes and some sites even offer a free play version of the poker rooms they offer that will allow you to bet “play money” with other live opponents. Illinois online poker options also allow players to enjoy multiple hands at multiple tables simultaneously for many more hands per hour, which is important to players seeking to make money on this type of gambling entertainment.

Can I Bet On Sports Online In Illinois?

Sports betting is the genre of online gambling that has always been in hot contention. Until May 2018 PASPA was the governing regulation that prohibited state-based sportsbooks from operating. The DOJ’s formal opinion on the Federal Wire Act totally outlawed US-based sports betting businesses that operate primarily over the internet. These two laws combined to address state-regulated sports betting both online and offline.

In 2019 the state passed legislation to allow domestic and online sports betting following the repeal of PASPA. The state has plans to allow sports betting kiosks as well as brick-and-mortar sportsbooks at stadiums. The state was hoping for a 2019 launch but with the end of the year looming it will likely be 2020 before domestic sportsbooks begin to accept bets.

Yet, sports fans in Illinois still have access to legally sanctioned online sportsbooks that are located outside of the country. The betting sites that you will find listed in this guide all have options for betting on professional, amateur and collegiate sports, as well as some categories that are less mainstream such as esports, cricket, rugby, darts, water sports and other less known options. You can even place bets on entertainment and politics through Illinois sports betting sites as well.

Can I Play Bingo Online In Illinois?

Online bingo played with real money falls into the online gambling arena and is thus is included in the laws that pertain to the industry of online gambling. That makes it totally legal for residents of Illinois to play bingo online with any Internet gambling companies that possess the proper regulation, licensing and compliance certifications and that are located in the international community. Illinois online bingo sites offer both free and real money bingo gaming entertainment as well as a variety of casino side games.

Will Illinois Legalize Online Gambling In The Near Future?

It certainly looks promising. As the introduction to this guide outlined, the state of Illinois has tried multiple times in the past to get some sort of online gambling legalized and regulated for the state’s economy to profit from. If the rumors are true there might be an online poker bill coming in the near future and once that breaks the seal, everything else is sure to follow. Now that the state has passed legislation to allow sports betting it will likely take their focus until sportsbooks are launched, after that the state will probably try to expand other forms of state-regulated gambling services.

Home to the “Windy City” and an eternal favorite of gamblers, Illinois is the base for a multitude of successful online and live tournament poker professionals. Poker seems to be in the state’s blood; President Obama often recalls his late-night games of poker played during his time at the Illinois Statehouse. In the live poker scene, locals have a wide variety of upcoming tournaments in poker clubs and riverboat casinos they can enter. Illinois has a more complicated relationship with real cash online poker.

In our guide to online poker in Illinois, we’ll explain and analyze the current gambling laws in Illinois, while discussing the poker sites which accept players from the state. We’ll discuss the odds that Illinois lawmakers regulate the Internet poker industry. This review of Illinois online poker laws will analyze whether existing gaming interests in the state support or oppose such laws.

Illinois Online Poker Guide

If you want to play online poker in IL, we suggest that you choose a room from our list below. The poker sites in this list have been chosen because they accept Illinois players, are regulated and – most importantly – have the softest games of all available Illinois online poker rooms. Here are the top legal Illinois online poker rooms:

Is Online Poker Legal in Illinois?

Illinois is a state that does face some restrictions when it comes to playing poker online. Some sites that take players from other states don’t accept new players from Illinois. Read Poker Atlas for the latest updates on live poker events at local card clubs and the riverboat casino scene. As for online poker in Illinois, we have you covered.

Thankfully, you don’t have to worry about finding the right site that will allow you to sign up from Illinois; our list of real poker sites in Illinois on this page is comprised exclusively of rooms that take players from Illinois, saving your time for the online poker tables.

Latest Updates Through 2020

Actions in the Illinois legislature in 2017 gave many legal online poker supporters hope that lawmakers were beginning to see the positives of legalizing and regulating online gaming. There was a bill that would’ve done just that for online poker and casino games, which passed the full Senate by a 42-10 vote in May, but the House bill never made it through committee as hearings were cancelled at the last minute.

However, online poker remained on the table going into 2018. State Representative Michael Zalewski’s H.479 was still being pushed, and he was confident that the right mix of gambling expansion projects would be appealing to a majority of lawmakers.

The tide began to turn not long after the United States Supreme Court overturned PASPA, which allowed New Jersey and all other states to address sports betting as they chose. Supporters of online gambling revised SB.7 to add daily fantasy sports and sports betting to the bill, but it happened late in the session and too close to its closing date of May 31.

Senate Bill 7 became a bipartisan bill, with several Republican and Democratic sponsors: Senators Terry Link, Dave Syverson, Mattie Hunter, and Donne Trotter; and Representatives Robert Rita, Rita Mayfield, Chad Hays, and Litesa Wallace. The proposal included articles for the “Fantasy Sports Act,” “Internet Gaming Act,” and “Sports Wagering Act.” Importantly, though, the bill lacked details about tax rates, licensing, and the regulatory framework.

One of those sponsors, Rita, then took an opportunity in the summer of 2018 to announce two hearings to discuss gambling expansion for Illinois. The first was held on August 22 in Chicago, and it was more than four hours of debate featuring members of joint committees. The main topics were new land-based casinos and expanded numbers of video gaming terminals.

The second hearing in early October was held in Springfield and focused heavily on sports betting. Horse racing takes precedence in Illinois and it became clear that there were many issues to be worked out before a solid bill could be drafted and presented to legalize sports betting, but it will be a priority for many lawmakers in 2019. This may mean that SB.0007 could be discarded and rewritten, and it is unclear whether online poker and casino games will be included in a new online gambling bill to be considered in early 2019.

Some speculation was correct for 2019 in that lawmakers were ready to pull together for gambling expansion in the state of Illinois. However, online poker and other forms of internet gambling were not a part of that picture. No matter the intentions of some lawmakers, it did not happen.

In the summer of 2019, a massive gambling expansion bill passed through the legislature after months of negotiations and discussions. Governor J.B. Pritzker signed it into law. It included the legalization of video gaming terminal (VGT) establishments, five new casinos in Illinois, a mega-casino in Chicago, a new racetrack, slot machines and table games in racetracks (making them racinos), and sports betting.

There will be 16 retail sportsbooks in the state and three online sportsbooks for Illinois. Casinos, racetracks, and stadiums may begin applying for sports betting licenses in December 2019. Sports betting should be live in land-based establishments and online sometime in 2020.

The future for online poker and internet slot and table games remains unknown. The inability to include online gambling into the 2019 omnibus bill was disappointing, and it is not known if there will be an opportunity to legalize those online games in 2020.

Illinois Law and Online Poker

So where does Illinois stand when it comes to the law and online poker? The state does address the issue of online gambling directly in its law, so let’s talk a bit more about that part of the Illinois statute and a few other aspects that should be of interest to the typical online poker player.

First, what constitutes gambling in Illinois? The law is pretty clear; gambling occurs when someone

“plays a game of chance or skill for money or other thing of value” (Section 28-1).

The only exceptions are state-approved forms of gambling.

Violation of that section as a player is a class A misdemeanor (Section 28-1(c)). Illinois does not have a history of aggressively pursuing mere participants in illegal gambling.

What does Illinois law have to say about online gambling? It is illegal if someone plays poker online?

“knowingly establishes, maintains, or operates an internet site that permits a person to play a game of chance or skill for money or other thing of value by means of the internet or to make a wager upon the result of any game, contest, political nomination, appointment, or election by means of the internet” (Section 28-1(12)).”

Nothing in the section (or in any other part of Illinois law) appears to directly address the act of participating on such “internet sites” as a mere player.

What you’re left with is a situation that, to some degree, lacks legal clarity. However, that should not be mistaken as a blanket endorsement that all online gambling activity is explicitly legal. In such cases of uncertainty, players should start by reviewing the laws of Illinois personally, and then continue by consulting a lawyer if questions persist.

Illinois Gambling Guide

Most accounts of Illinois history assign gambling an early and prominent role in the story of the state. Whether through the lotteries of early settlers, the famous riverboat gambling ships that cruised Illinois waters during the 1800s or the ubiquitous, ever-present gambling halls of Chicago, you’d be hard-pressed to pick a point in the Illinois timeline that didn’t involve gambling in some way, shape or form.

Today’s gambling industry in Illinois is a result of nearly forty years of legislative shifts toward gambling expansion, one that began in 1974 with the authorization of the state lottery. Online poker legislation is an extension of those legislative trends, but like many states with a substantial land-based gambling industry, the existing interests complicate iGaming bills.

What Gambling is Regulated in Illinois?

Most popular forms of regulated gambling are permitted under Illinois law. In addition to the state lottery and the multiple casinos spread across the state, there is also legal pari-mutuel wagering in Illinois and a wide slate of charitable gambling formats.

Illinois has vastly expanded its gambling offerings in recent years, most extensively with a massive gambling expansion bill in 2019.

There had been more than 32,561 video gaming terminals (VGTs) in Illinois, but there will be more when the new law is implemented in 2020 with the creation of full VGT establishments. There were also 10 casinos in the state, but that was expanded this year to allow for five new casinos to be built and a mega-casino/resort in the city of Chicago. And on top of the three horse racing tracks in Illinois already, an additional one was approved in 2019. Racetracks will also be able to expand to become racinos and offer up to 1,200 casino games, including slots and table games.

Online lottery games have been available for some time, but sports betting will now be available online. In 2020, there will be three online sportsbooks to complement the 16 retail sportsbooks. In addition, there will be 2,500 sports betting lottery kiosks permitted throughout the state.

All Poker and Gambling Laws by State

• Illinois was close last year. There was a strong bill championed by State Representative Robert Rita and others, there were hearings, and there was widespread support for the sports betting part of the bill. Online poker and casino games were also included in that gambling expansion bill, along with new

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• December 28th, 2018

  Last year, the attempt to predict which states might join the ranks of those with legalized online poker was not very successful. In fact, only one state actually passed such legislation in 2018, but at the very last minute, on December 28, that state’s governor vetoed the bill. Oh, Michigan!

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• October 18th, 2018

  Illinois was one of only a few states that held open the possibility of legalizing online poker and other casino games in latter part of 2018. The consideration has been part of a larger gambling expansion bill that was and remains on the table for lawmakers this year. While online

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• August 26th, 2018

  While most other states that had considered online poker in 2018 abandoned those ideas earlier in the year, Illinois remained open to it. One lawmaker continues to champion one bill, and its future may depend on a legislative hearing set for October. The process of legalizing online gaming – whether

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• August 2nd, 2018

  Most states that examined online poker in early 2018 have abandoned it for the year, as legislative sessions ended and no plans were made to revisit online gaming at all in the next few months. Illinois, it appears, is not one of those states. There wasn’t much hope placed in

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• May 29th, 2018

  Online poker and gambling became real legislative possibilities for Illinois in 2017. The Senate even passed a bill to legalize and regulate those internet games one year ago, but the companion bill on the House side never garnered enough support to even pass a committee. There has been no word

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IL Online Poker and Gambling Facts: Objective Sources

ICGA . The Illinois Casino Gaming Association is a trade group representing the interests of many of Illinois’ casinos. The group’s site provides useful research material for those interested in the Illinois gambling industry.

Illinois Gaming Board. The official site for the state gaming board is the definitive resource for legal and regulatory information concerning gambling in Illinois. Get information on meetings, measures, help with problem gambling and self-exclusion along with a wealth of statistical information at the IGB website.

ICPG The online home for the Illinois Council on Problem Gambling is a central location providing access to a 24-hour helpline, speakers, and resources for educators, families and players. The ICPG is opposed to poker laws that expand and regulate the industry.

Famous Illinois Poker Players

There are actually a number of points at which the history of poker and the history of Illinois intersect. One example is the story of James Butler Hickok, better known as “Wild Bill.” It was Hickok’s death that gave a name to the now-famous “dead mans hand” – two pair, aces and eights, said to be held by the lawman when he was shot during a poker game.

Another example comes in the colorful tale of Nick “The Greek” Dandolos, who called Chicago home for much of his life. Dandolos was part of the mythic (and much debated) match up with Johnny Moss that is often cited as the template for the World Series of Poker. A final, and more modern, illustration of the shared history between poker and Illinois is author and poker player Jim McManus, who lives in the state.

The plethora of live poker rooms in Illinois have allowed poker players to flourish in Illinois through the years. Even so, many of the state’s most famous players garnered most of their experience online.

Almost all of the top live tournament earners in Illinois were famous first for their online play, like Connor Drinan, Mohsin Charania, Gavin Griffin, and Kevin Saul. Their online poker earnings are not even included in the numbers below, which goes to show how well most of them crossed over from online to live play.

The top-ranked players from Illinois, as of 2019, are as follows:

1. Connor Drinan ($11.3 million)
2. Mohsin Charania ($6.2 million)
3. Gavin Griffin ($5.1 million)
4. Ryan Tosoc ($4.8 million)
5. Aaron Massey ($4.1 million)
6. Jason Wheeler ($4 million)
7. Ravi Raghavan ($4 million)
8. Kevin Saul ($3.7 million)
9. Chris Moor ($3.6 million)
10. Kyle Julius ($3.5 million)

Is Online Betting Legal In Illinois

Sources & Citations For This Article on Illinois Online Poker