Illinois Sports Betting: Best Illinois Sportsbooks In 2026
In the spring of 2019, the Illinois state legislature passed an expense that permitted Illinois sports betting at riverboat gambling establishments, horse racetracks, and select sports centers. Online sports wagering arrived in June 2020 with the launch of the BetRivers sportsbook.
This timeline supplies a snapshot of Illinois' sports betting history:
March 13, 2026: Illinois gamblers put 28.9 million bets in January, below 36 million during the exact same month in 2025.
March 6, 2026: An Illinois legislator desires to require forecast market platforms to be certified and pay state taxes to the tune of 50% of their adjusted gross revenue.
Feb. 6, 2026: An Illinois legislator desires to repeal a per-wager tax on online sports betting operators less than 8 months after the Prairie State set up the law.
Jan. 16, 2026: Sports wagering reached an all-time high in Illinois for the 2nd consecutive month with online and retail sportsbooks generating a deal with of $1.66 billion, a brand-new record.
Jan. 12, 2026: The Sports Betting Alliance (SBA) attributes a 2nd consecutive 15% year-over-year drop in Illinois sports betting to the Prairie State's 25 cent per-wager tax, with 6.4 million less bets positioned.
Dec. 31, 2025: The Sports Betting Alliance (SBA) validated that it submitted a claim in Cook County and a request for a momentary restraining order versus the city's new licensing requirements.
Dec. 23, 2025: Illinoisans set a brand-new state sports betting record with $1.6 billion in wagers throughout October, going beyond the previous manage high of $1.53 billion embeded in November 2024.
Dec. 23, 2025: The NHL's Chicago Blackhawks are the very first U.S.-based significant professional sports franchise to partner with a forecast market platform, revealing a pact with Kalshi.
Dec. 22, 2025: Gilbert Villegas, a Chicago city council member, informs the Chicago Tribune that the increase of sports betting taxes earlier this year in Illinois has actually currently led to the decline of sports wagers.
Nov. 17, 2025: The Sports Betting Alliance (SBA) claims Illinois' per-wager tax caused a 15% year-over-year drop in September online wagering in the Prairie State with 5 million less wagers put.
Nov. 17, 2025: Sports wagering was up 9% year-over-year in Illinois throughout September, however profits in the first full month of football dropped off considerably.
Oct. 21, 2025: Chicago wishes to add its own new tax on Illinois sports wagering, a relocation that state legislators are working to prevent.
Oct. 17, 2025: The sports betting market deals with a risk of yet another Illinois tax walking with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson presenting his 2026 budget plan proposal to the City Council, including a new "Online Sports Wagering Tax."
Oct. 16, 2025: Illinois sportsbooks generated over $100 million in revenue for the 8th time in the last 12 months, taking 82% more earnings in August than in the same month in 2024.
Sept. 24, 2025: The Sports Betting Alliance is sounding the alarm over a proposed per-bet tax in Chicago, which would be in addition to the one by Illinois legislators in July.
Sept. 24, 2025: Despite a low-volume month with mainly MLB to carry betting, the Illinois Gaming Board reported an $862.5 million handle in July, putting the marketplace second nationally behind only New York.
Sept. 10, 2025: Following Illinois becoming the very first state to implement a per-bet tax, a ranking of Illinois' sportsbooks by fees, minimums from the majority of to least bearable by Covers' Ryan Butler.
Sept. 2, 2025: All 10 sports wagering operators have actually officially reacted to the per-wager charge applied by Illinois lawmakers this summertime, with bet365 the last operator to do something about it.
Aug. 26, 2025: Caesars Sportsbook will be the most recent sportsbook to start charging a $0.25 charge on each online wager in Illinois, beginning Sept. 1.
Aug. 20, 2025: PENN's Chicagoland retail residential or commercial properties and ESPN BET have actually ended up being main partners of the Chicago Bears.
Aug. 19, 2025: Illinois' sports wagering operators produced their most significant win rate ever, resulting in 33% year-over-year earnings growth in June.
Aug. 14, 2025: ESPN BET raises its minimum wager in Illinois to $1 (from $0.10).
Aug. 4, 2025: The Illinois Gaming Board announces boosted and consistent marketing rules for three elements of betting: gambling establishments, video gaming, and sports wagering.
July 31, 2025: Licensed online sportsbooks in Illinois are reacting to the brand-new per-bet tax and what it may cost gamblers.
July 17, 2025: Illinois' 8th successive $1 billion regular monthly deal with propelled the state into an elite club, signing up with New York and New Jersey as the only 3 U.S. states to reach $50 billion in overall bets considering that the Supreme Court reversed PASPA in 2018.
July 15, 2025: BetMGM sets a $2.50 minimum bet in Illinois after the state's brand-new tax changes.
July 15, 2025: Illinois is getting closer to formally prohibiting the usage of credit cards in connection with sports wagering.
July 10, 2025: Illinois Attorney General Of The United States Kwame Raoul predicts that the state will eventually legislate online gambling establishment video gaming, with factor to consider possibly being given in 2026.
July 2, 2025: The WNBA's Chicago Sky partnered with online safety company Moonshot to combat online hate, harassment, and abuse targeting players and coaches.
June 19, 2025: The WNBA's Chicago Sky revealed a multi-year partnership with bet365 sportsbook, making them the 5th WNBA team with a sports wagering partner.
June 18, 2025: Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker says Illinois' spending plan, that includes new tax rate on every online sports wager, showcases state's "hard-earned financial responsibility" with the state imposing a $0.25-per-wager rate for the first 20 million wagers, $0.50 after.
June 17, 2025: April produces an 18% year-over-year sports wagering revenue increase in Illinois, with the Prairie State's online and retail sportsbooks taking in $108 million on an over $1 billion deal with.
June 17, 2025: Lawsuits versus prediction market operator Kalshi, and the trading platforms Robinhood, Susquehanna, and Webull, started to pop up throughout the U.S. this month, with lawsuits filed in five states, including Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio, Massachusetts and South Carolina.
June 16, 2025: An online study conducted by Covers suggests the 50-cent cost that DraftKings and FanDuel are preparing to charge in Illinois might suppress wagering by some consumers.
June 12, 2025: DraftKings, much like rival FanDuel, prepares to charge its clients a 50-cent charge in response to the per-bet tax Illinois legislators recently authorized.
June 10, 2025: FanDuel-parent Flutter is cautioning that Illinois' new per-bet tax "will disproportionately affect lower wagering recreational customers while also punishing those operators who have invested the most to grow the online regulated market in the state."
June 10, 2025: FanDuel moms and dad business Flutter Entertainment will institute a 50-cent surcharge on all wagers in Illinois, in action to Illinois' recent tax hike, which will charge sportsbooks 25-to-50 cents per accepted wager in addition to the 20-to-40% earnings tax.
June 4, 2025: A recently executed DraftKings surcharge on sports bets dealt with such scrutiny that public pressure required the business to desert its ideas.
June 3, 2025: Despite pushback from major operators, Illinois is progressing with a significant modification to its sports betting tax structure, with rates ranging from 20% to 40% to replace the flat 15% tax on sports betting earnings.
June 3, 2025: With the 157th edition of the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course set for Saturday, Caesars Entertainment announced it has actually added pari-mutuel horse racing betting into its sportsbook in Illinois and Indiana.
June 2, 2025: Illinois has been struck by another tax for online sportsbooks - the brand-new tax, reliable July 1, will be 25 cents per wager for the first 20 million bets taken in the state in any given fiscal year, and then 50 cents per wager after that.
May 27, 2025: Illinois legislators are dealing with pressure as proposals to legalize online gambling establishments have stalled before the May 31 adjournment.
May 20, 2025: BetMGM has seen a 157% handle boost on the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl winner futures market considering that Chicago native Robert Prevost was announced as the brand-new Pope.
May 15, 2025: Illinois wagerers wagered 34.7% more sports wagering dollars in March 2025 than in the very same month of the previous year, but win rate below 7% stunted income development.
April 28, 2025: An Illinois man won $350,000 in bets at a casino in Indiana and $450,000 at a gambling establishment in Iowa totaling $800k, however those gambling establishments, run by Caesars Entertainment, refuse to pay those jackpots, declaring he breached rules and regulations and anti-money laundering policies.
April 24, 2025: Illinois sports betting regulators relocate to prohibit the use of credit cards.
April 21, 2025: An operator-friendly Super Bowl LIX outcome in Illinois resulted in a 53.1% year-over-year February profits increase.
April 2, 2025: Illinois problems cease-and-desists orders to prediction business Kalshi, Robinhood, and Crypto.com, joining a list of growing states to act versus these grey-area books.
March 17, 2025: Illinois lawmakers are considering the legalization of online gaming, likewise called iGaming, as the state faces a prospective spending plan deficit and financial uncertainty.
March 17, 2025: Illinois wagerers still can't place bets on the two in-state individuals in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, thanks to a restriction that restricts all wagers including Prairie State teams.
March 16, 2025: bet365 goes reside in Illinois ahead of March Madness, becoming the tenth online sportsbook available in the Prairie State.
March 14, 2025: Illinois January sports betting deal with is up 14.6% every year, highlight an increase in online betting to begin 2025.
Feb. 12, 2025: Illinois December sports betting income falls almost 18% year-over-year compared to December 2023. However, the state created 75% more tax income for the whole of 2024 compared to the previous year.
Jan. 15, 2025: Illinois sets a new regular monthly record for sports betting manage and revenue in November, collecting $137.2 million in benefit from $1.53 billion wagered.
Dec. 18, 2024: bet365 gets an Illinois sports wagering license to run a retail and online sportsbook, helping it partner with Walker's Bluff Casino Resort.
Dec. 17, 2024: Illinois' income plunges in October in spite of earning a record sports wagering manage.
Nov. 18, 2024: Illinois set a new regular monthly sports wagering revenue high, as the Illinois Gaming Board reported a September handle of $1.31 billion, up 21.3% year-over-year and 50% month-over-month.
Oct. 25, 2024: The NFL requests a restriction on prop bets that are "vulnerable to adjustment" in Illinois, such as the first play of the game, the very first pass to be incomplete, and a gamer missing a field objective.
Oct. 22, 2024: Illinois sports wagering action increases 30% year-over-year in August, causing almost $60 million in adjusted profits.
Sept. 17, 2024: The Illinois Gaming Board introduces brand-new gambling marketing guidelines that will apply to regional gambling establishment and video gaming operators for the first time.
Aug. 26, 2024: Hard Rock Bet goes reside in Illinois, making it the ninth online operator in the state.
Aug. 12, 2024: Illinois' operators produce an 11% hold regardless of the state's diminishing sports wagering manage in June.
Aug. 1, 2024: DraftKings is set to present a tax on winning bets in Illinois.
July 9, 2024: Illinois' billion-dollar handle streak grows to nine months, as the state eclipsed $1.02 billion in wagers in May.
June 25, 2024: The Chicago Blackhawks partner with Circa Sports to sponsor a main home jersey spot during the next NHL season.
June 18, 2024: Illinois' April manage presses past New Jersey for the second-biggest sports betting overall in the U.S. for the month.
June 18, 2024: Illinois legislators protect sports wagering tax hike in 2025 budget.
June 4, 2024: Illinois Governor signs the new progressive sports betting tax rates into the state's 2025 budget plan and will formally enter effect on July 1, 2024.
May 28, 2024: Analysts say reaction to sports wagering tax hikes is overblown, mentioning Illinois is a "state-specific" case.
May 27, 2024: Major sportsbooks would "review" their Illinois existence if the state's sports wagering tax hike ends up being law.
May 16, 2024: Illinois' March basketball action increases 23% year-over-year, assisting sportsbooks create nearly $1.3 billion in regular monthly deal with.
May 3, 2024: Illinois introduces a costs to obstruct Dave & Buster's bets on game video games following the business's recent statement to enable betting between customers on choose games.
April 5, 2024: Fanatics Sportsbook formally goes online in Illinois.
Feb. 23, 2024: Following Gov. Pritzker's announcement of a proposed tax hike on sports wagering recently, Covers' own Geoff Zochodne questions if a sports wagering tax walking in Illinois could put a damper on the state's market?
Feb. 22, 2024: Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker proposes sports wagering tax walking to combat budget deficit, as raising taxes from 15% to 30% would offer an additional $100 million to the state.