Legal Online Casinos in Illinois
All About Online Casinos in Illinois (summary)
Illinois does not currently have legal online casinos, but lawmakers are trying to change that. While waiting for legalization, residents have other gambling options.
Key Points:
- No Regulated Online Casinos: As of February 2025, online casinos are not yet legal in Illinois.
- Alternative Options: Residents can play at social casinos with sweepstakes, bet on sports, participate in daily fantasy sports (DFS), wager on horse racing, or play the Illinois Lottery online.
- Sweepstakes Casinos: These platforms allow players to enjoy casino-style games using virtual currencies (gold coins and sweep coins), with the potential to redeem winnings for real cash prizes.
- Legalization Efforts: Lawmakers have proposed bills to legalize online casinos, allowing existing casino license holders to operate up to three online gaming platforms. The proposal includes a 25% tax rate and employment protections for casino workers.
- Opposition to Legalization: Video lottery terminal (VLT) operators are against online casinos, fearing competition from digital gaming.
- Future Expectations: If legalization happens, top brands like BetMGM, DraftKings, and FanDuel could enter the Illinois market, offering a full range of casino games and online poker.
Conclusion:
Illinois does not yet allow online casinos, but changes may come in the future. Meanwhile, residents can legally participate in sports betting, DFS, horse race betting, and the state lottery. The debate on regulation continues, and its success remains uncertain.
Trending News for Illinois
Casino games
More about Online Gambling in Illinois
As the fifth most populous state in the US, Illinois still has an unregulated online casino market. However, that may change soon, given that Illinois lawmakers have once again introduced bills to legalize this form of entertainment in the state.
While waiting for the new legal framework for online gambling, let’s dive into the legal options for the residents of the Prairie State. These include social casinos with sweepstakes, games available through the state lottery, sports betting and more.
Best Sweepstake Casinos in Illinois
Sweepstakes casinos provide Illinois residents with a legal alternative to traditional gambling, enabling them to access casino-style games without wagering real money. That’s exactly what makes them legal in the first place in Illinois and the rest of the country.
Instead of real money, these platforms utilize virtual currencies, also known as gold coins and sweepstakes (sweep) coins. These allow players to enjoy casino-style games such as slots, table games, and sometimes live casino games. If players who play in the sweepstakes mode win while playing these games, they can redeem sweep coins for real money prizes or vouchers.
The best social casinos with sweepstakes offer Illinoisans a diverse selection of games from reputable providers. In addition, players can make use of welcome offers, participate in tournaments and giveaways or benefit from other perks through loyalty programs and referral bonuses. Players who decide to buy gold coins can also take advantage of various discounts and obtain sweep coins through gold coin packages.
Legalization of Online Casinos in Illinois
In February 2025, the Government of Illinois published a press release stating that more than $1.7 billion in tax revenue was earned from licensed casinos, video gaming terminals, and sportsbooks in 2024 without sports wagering in December.
Earlier this year, in January, Governor JB Pritzker indicated a $3 billion budget deficit, noting that online gaming could be a revenue source to close the gap. Soon after that, Illinois lawmakers proposed bills to legalize online casinos.
It was the third time the bills were introduced after the two previous attempts failed. According to reports, the bills are almost identical to previous iterations as they propose allowing the holders of existing licenses to operate up to three online casino skins and offer slots, table games, online poker, and live dealer games.
Ruining brick-and-mortar casinos?
One of the major concerns coming from labour unions and workers is that online gambling could affect jobs in Illinois brick-and-mortar casinos. However, the proposed bills include a provision addressing this potential issue, requiring operators to retain a workforce between license renewal periods. A decline of 25% or more would result in revoking a license.
The bills also stipulate that adjusted iGaming revenue would be subjected to a tax rate of 25%. The tax revenue would be allocated to the State Gaming Fund, which covers gambling regulation costs and contributes to education funding.
It remains to be seen whether this attempt will be fruitful, but knowing that lawmakers failed twice, it may take time for legal changes to happen. You can rest assured that we’ll be first to report when new online gambling laws are passed.
Meanwhile, Illinois’ video lottery terminal (VLT) operators are identified as the biggest opponents of online casino legalization. Opponents fear online casinos could harm their businesses. They rely on in-person wagering at bars, restaurants, and convenience stores with VLTs.
Legal Online Casinos in Illinois: What You Can Expect
Once the legal landscape for online casinos changes, we can expect some of the leading operators to offer their services to Illinois residents. When it comes to sports betting, they have partnered with existing Illinois operators to offer online sportsbooks.
Based on what other US states have allowed, it’s expected that Illinoisans would be able to enjoy a full range of casino games, from slots to table and live dealer games. In addition, online poker should be legal in various formats, from cash games to tournaments.
When it comes to brands, BetMGM, DraftKings, and FanDuel are the most obvious contenders for a local licence. Yet, we must be patient and wait for the regulated market to take place to talk about it with certainty.
Other Types of Online Gambling in Illinois
While waiting for the Illinois online casino market to open, let’s take a look at legal forms of entertainment on the Internet. Here is an overview of online gambling activities the residents of the Prairie State can participate in legally.
Sports Betting
Online sports betting has been legal in Illinois since 2020, with the first bet placed on March 9, 2020. In June 2020, sports betting apps were allowed. As of February 2025, a total of 8 online sportsbooks are available, including BetRivers, Caesars Sportsbook and ESPN BET, to name a few.
Illinois players can bet on professional and college sports, as well as Esports. They can choose from various bet types, including moneyline, point spread, over/under, parlays, teasers, and futures.
Daily Fantasy Sports
Although no legislation has been passed to formally regulate fantasy sports in Illinois, this form of entertainment has been legal since 2020. That’s when the state supreme court decided that DFS contests are games of skill. Hence, they are legal in the Prairie State. While the legal age for sports betting is 21, to engage in DFS, Illinoisans must be 18 or older.
Horse Racing Betting
Illinois residents can bet on horse races online using advance deposit wagering (ADW) platforms. The Illinois Racing Board was founded in 1933. To place bets, you must be at least 18 and live in Illinois.
Advance deposit wagering was legalized in 2009 when the Illinois Horse Racing Act of 1975 was amended. In addition, Illinois residents can bet on horse races through sportsbooks that offer this option, such as FanDuel.
Illinois Lottery
The state lottery allows citizens who are 18 or older to try their luck at Powerball, Mega Millions, Lotto, and other draw games. They can purchase tickets directly on the Illinois Lottery website. Alternatively, once they create an account, they can use an iOS or Android app to make purchases.
The Illinois Lottery provides funding to K-12 public education, with around 23% of every dollar spent allocated to education and other causes in the state. Since 1985, the Illinois Lottery has contributed to educational funding in Illinois with over $24 billion. Only in fiscal year 2024, $884 million was generated through this form of entertainment.
FAQs
No, as of February 2025, online casinos are not legal in Illinois.
Illinois residents can participate in online sports betting, horse racing betting, daily fantasy sports and the state-owned online lottery.
Social casinos with sweepstakes don’t require real money wagers and don’t pay out real money prizes. Still, if you play with sweep coins, you can redeem them for cash prizes and vouchers.
Some of the most popular brands offering online sports betting in Illinois are FanDuel, BetRivers, BetMGM, and DraftKings.
The state of Illinois requires you to report online gambling winnings on your state tax return. Similarly to land-based gambling, if you win a significant amount while gambling online, your winnings may also be subject to a federal tax.
