Is Online Gambling Legal in Illinois?

What Gambling Is Legal in Illinois

Sports Betting in Illinois: Legal

We found the answer to the popular question: Is sports betting legal in Illinois? Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the Sports Wagering Act on June 28, 2019. 

Retail betting opened first, taking its first legal wager at Rivers Casino in Des Plaines on March 9, 2020. What’s more, online betting followed that June, when BetRivers became the state's first licensed online sportsbook.

Daily Fantasy Sports in Illinois: Legal and Now Licensed

DFS settled its legal status before online betting did. Back in April 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that daily fantasy contests are predominantly skill-based. So, DFS remained legal but unlicensed for years afterward. 

That finally changed this year. Senate Bill 3019, tucked into the state's FY2027 budget, created Illinois's first real DFS licensing framework, effective July 1, 2026. 

What it does is:

• It sets a 21+ age minimum for fantasy contests, 
• adds a 15% tax on adjusted gross fantasy revenue, and 
• splits operators into 2 license tiers based on how many Illinois users they had the year before.

Online Casino in Illinois: Not Legal

There’s not one operator that holds a license here, and none exists. HB 1167, this year's attempt to change that, cleared its assigned committee back in January 2026 but never got a floor vote. 

By the time the legislative session wrapped on June 1, the only gambling bill that actually passed was SB 3019, and online casino wasn't part of it. That's 4 straight years the effort has failed now.

Prediction Markets

The CFTC oversees prediction markets at the federal level, while states have taken different approaches.

Illinois hasn't exactly stayed quiet about that, though. The Gaming Board has previously sent its own cease-and-desist notices to prediction market operators, including Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com, arguing they were offering sports contracts without state approval. Whether that argument holds up is still an open question nationally.

The Legal Gambling Age in Illinois

21 is the minimum age for the following:

• sports betting, 
• casino gaming, 
• video gaming terminals, and now 
• daily fantasy sports. 

The only exception is the Illinois Lottery, where the floor drops to 18.

Who Regulates Gambling in Illinois

The Illinois Gaming Board

The Illinois Gaming Board licenses casinos, sports wagering, and video gaming terminals. And as of July 1, 2026, it also licenses fantasy sports operators. Its monthly reports are where Illinois gaming revenue figures come from. Not from some operator's marketing page. 

For 2025, the board's own site puts the combined tax take at more than $2.2 billion. One thing worth clearing up, though: don't confuse this board with the Illinois Lottery. That's a separate agency entirely, run under the Department of the Lottery.

How to File a Complaint

What if you have an issue with a licensed operator? 

Make sure to file that complaint with the Gaming Board, and not the Lottery.

Where to Get Help in Illinois

You should know that Illinois runs its own helpline, 1-800-843-6154.

You'll also see the national 1-800-GAMBLER responsible gambling number.

Where You Can Bet in Illinois

Licensed Sportsbooks in Illinois

It’s good to mention that most trackers name ten consumer-facing apps: 

• bet365, 
• BetRivers, 
• FanDuel, 
• DraftKings, 
• theScore Bet, 
• BetMGM, 
• Circa Sports,
• Fanatics Sportsbook, 
• Hard Rock Bet, and 
• Caesars Sportsbook. 

That number matches the Illinois Gaming Board's own count of licensed online sportsbooks exactly. Yet, the board's homepage cites a bigger number: 14 active sportsbooks. This is because that figure also folds in retail-only locations like racetracks and the DraftKings Sportsbook at Wrigley Field. So it's just two different counts answering two different questions.

Fantasy Sports Operators

Something changed here that's worth calling out directly. Pick'em-style apps used to run player-versus-house in Illinois, until the Gaming Board sent PrizePicks a cease-and-desist and forced that structure to shift.  Peer-to-peer DFS contests took over instead. Now players compete against each other, not the house, and that's what SB 3019 licenses today.

What Is Not Available

No licensed online casino exists in Illinois, and no licensed online poker does either. Prediction markets are federally regulated by the CFTC. Search online gambling Illinois, and you'll mostly turn up sportsbook and DFS results. It is because that's genuinely most of what's really legal here.

Check the prediction markets tracker for the latest updates in this field and whether major operators such as Kalshi are live.

Tax and winnings

Illinois State Tax on Winnings

Illinois taxes gambling and contest winnings as ordinary income at a flat 4.95%. There's the detail most other pages skip, though. That rate never moves, whether you win $100 or $100,000.  Illinois's constitution outright bars graduated income tax rates. What’s more, voters rejected a 2020 amendment that would've allowed one. So unlike states with tiered brackets, your win size doesn't change your rate here.

What You Still Owe Federally

Federal tax still applies on top of that flat state rate. And operators issue a W-2G once your payout crosses the federal reporting threshold.

General information only; not tax advice.

Pending Illinois Gambling Legislation

Online Casino: HB 1167

HB 1167 stalled after clearing committee in January, as covered above.  Earlier companion bills set the template. SB 1963 and HB 3080 proposed a 25% tax on gross gaming revenue. Industry groups like the Sports Betting Alliance are still pushing for something to pass. Yet, nothing did in 2026.

What Changed for Fantasy Sports in 2026

SB 3019 is really the year's one genuine gambling law. Both chambers passed it on June 1, 2026, and Pritzker signed it on June 16.  SB 3019 did more than just DFS, though. It also let Chicago's and Waukegan's temporary casinos keep running longer. That buys time while their permanent locations get finished.

Sweepstakes Enforcement

This is enforcement, and not a new law. On February 5, 2026, the Gaming Board and the Attorney General's office sent cease-and-desist letters to 65 sweepstakes and unlicensed online casino operators, including:

• VGW Holdings (Chumba Casino, LuckyLand Slots), 
• Stake.us, 
• Gold Treasure Casino,
• Pulsz, 
• Global Poker, and 
• Fliff. 

Illinois has no sweepstakes-specific statute, so this action leaned on the existing criminal code instead. Still, compliance has been spotty since. Only a couple of platforms actually pulled out, and most simply ignored the letters.

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