Illinois Online Gambling Laws
History of Gambling in Illinois
Find the best legal us online gambling sites. Learn which states you can legally play online casino games, online lottery, poker sites and sports betting. Legal Illinois Online Gambling, Poker & Casinos Horse racing bets are now permitted both on and off the race track, state lotteries are welcomed, along with traditional casino table games and poker. In Illinois, people like to play slots for real money are all over the Internet. We have made a list below of the best online casino gambling sites where IL can play online slots for real money and all gambling games on mobile Smartphones and tablets.
Gambling activities in the State of Illinois have an interesting background. Riverboat gambling and horse racing have been the peaks of the Illinois gambling industry, supported by a population of nearly 12.9 million. Going back to the 1800’s, we can find traces of unlicensed riverboat casinos which served shady people at the stud poker tables. Horse race betting was legalized in the 1920s, so then people were able to enjoy parlor casino ambience and the thrill at the races. Pari-mutuel betting on the horses became a huge success and evolved into a respectable gambling industry in the Prairie State.
What brought the Illinois gambling scene under the spotlight of history was the fact that it was the first state to legitimize State Lottery, in 1974. The idea was to fund local schools. Now, Illinois State Lottery ranks among the top 10 in the US in terms of revenue, and earns 60% of the profits from selling scratch-offs. Of course, it also offers interstate games like MegaMillions and Powerball. In 1975, the Illinois Horse Racing Act was signed into effect, allowing licensed tracks to offer both harness and thoroughbred racing. A decade later, simulcast wagering and off-track betting were approved. The glorious return of riverboat casinos happened in 1991, when laws were passed allowing them to offer gambling games as long as they were always moving on the rivers. Patrons would wait in long lines for hours for the boats to set sail in the evenings, until the clause regarding moving casinos were eventually repealed in 1999.
More games were allowed to be added to racetracks, and also land-based casinos, in 2011 with the Casinos Act SB744. When it comes to online wagering, Illinois has mixed feeling towards it. The state allows the selling of online lottery tickets, but explicitly outlaws offering online gambling services through online casinos within Illinois borders.
Land based casinos
As tax dollars were pouring into casinos from neighboring states like Indiana and Iowa, politicians grew tired of it and loosened Illinois regulations, allowing riverboat casinos to flourish and eventually announced the possibility of six brick and mortar casinos being built, including one in Chicago. Strangely enough, Illinois remains without tribal gaming, although there are registered tribes on the state territory. The problem is how both parties - the state government and the tribe - define reservations, because tribal casinos are only allowed to be built on Native American reservations. The Prairie Band Potawatomi Tribe wanted to claim their right to offer gambling and construct a bingo hall in 2016, 70 miles west of Chicago. The US Department of the Interior didn’t allow it, as the 128 acres owned by the Prairie Band Potawatomi didn’t count as legitimate reservation land.
All in all, Illinoisans enjoy more than enough gambling options thanks to riverboat casinos. There are 10 of them; River Casino Des Plaines was the 10th to acquire a license to operate in 2012. Cook County, along with the city of Chicago, does not allow riverboat gambling so as to protect the horse racing industry in that area. Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, Jumer’s Casino & Hotel in Rock Island, and Casino Queen in East. St. Louis qualify as being riverboat casinos, but you can also consider them legit land-based casinos, as they are built upon shallow pits with some water in them.
All casinos in Illinois do not allow smoking and they aren’t open 24/7. The two largest facilities are Hollywood Casino Joliet and Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino. Hollywood Casino Joliet offers nearly 1,200 slot machines and 20 table games. It stretches across 50,000 square feet and includes 4 restaurants. Its opening hours are 7:30 am - 5:30 am daily. Par-A-Dice Hotel features over 1,150 slots and more than 21 table games. It is a 1,600-passenger boat docked on the Illinois River, with 4 restaurants and 195 rooms. Casino Hours: are from 8 am to 4am/6am (Fri/Sat). More interesting venues include Harrah's Metropolis and Jumer's Casino & Hotel.
Online casinos
Ignition is a site which Accepts Visa, Bitcoin and wire transfers and targets players from the US, offering them the best software available right now. Ignition Casino houses a huge range of slots from Real Time Gaming and Rival Gaming, from classic slots to interactive video slots with bonus games and lucrative features. Ignition is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission. Bovada Casino is a sister site Ignition, only with a slightly longer career in the industry. Bovada’s attractions are dedicated customer support and prompt payouts, as well as a sportsbook, racebook and a full-featured casino.
Regulation and legality of online gambling
List Of Illinois Casinos
The Illinois Criminal Code addresses internet gambling as an illegal offense in Article 29 Sect. 28-1. A person is doing something illegal if he or she “[…] 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.”
The language is primarily focused on operators and could hardly be used against online gamblers within IL.
US Gambling
In the United States of America (USA) online gambling is illegal in certain areas although that doesn’t stop them from being the most ‘creative’ provider of online casino players. A 1961 law (“The Wire Act”) that forbids interstate telephone betting should of course theoretically apply to the Internet, but only around 19% of US Internet gamblers in a 2006 poll conducted by the American Gaming Association (AGA) thought that online gambling was illegal. That Act has never been enforced for Internet betting. There is an element of letting the individual States decide rather than a federal enforcement, but in 2006 the US senate passed the “Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act” (UIGEA) which has had a major effect on gamblers in the USA. Not only have a number of the safer casinos stopped accepting US gamblers, but banks and online funding options have been drying up rapidly. The UIGEA “prohibits gambling businesses from knowingly accepting payments in connection with the participation of another person in a bet or wager that involves the use of the Internet and that is unlawful under any federal or state law.”
The States that definitely outlaw online gambling in the USA include Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Nevada, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin. The UIGEA is designed to limit payment providers such as banks and eWallets from funding online gambling. A number of online casinos have stopped taking US players.
Europe Gambling
The UK Gambling Act passed in September 2007 and affects the operators more than the players. It is perfectly legal for UK residents to gamble online, however the only casinos that are allowed to advertise on the UK market are those based in recognised jurisdictions, such as Gibraltar, Malta, Alderney and Isle Of Man. The UK Gambling Commission didn’t explain in detail what changed between 2007, when Antigua’s white list application was rejected, and 2008, when Antigua was eventually accepted. But they said that as part of their regulatory work they carry out ongoing reviews of white list operators. Kahnawake still hasn’t been accepted though.
Many European countries have strict online gambling laws. It’s currently illegal in France, although that is under review, in areas of Germany and in the Netherlands where a state run operation exists. Sweden is similar to the Netherlands, although the state monopoly is being challenged. You’d do well to check that your country allows online gambling before you play or you might find it a problem getting paid if you win.
The fact is, that if you live in a country that prohibits online gambling, you’re the one at risk. Some casinos will not allow access to US gamblers at all and some also publish lists of countries they will not accept. The Netherlands is another area affected by this. However, many gamblers in the US continue to play online and therefore they remain a high-profile target audience. Just be aware that your casino of choice may have a T&C’s of play attached to players from your jurisdiction, and always read these before you deposit.
Casino In Illinois
You will also find that some Credit Card companies forbid their cards being used at online casinos. Mastercard is one that has restrictions in territories where online gambling is illegal, and I believe Visa has followed suit in the USA. There are however Prepaid Credit Cards that provide an alternative to gamblers in these jurisdictions.
Licensing Jurisdictions and Regulation
Every (honest) casino is required to be licensed within the jurisdiction that they conduct base operations and in which they house their player servers. Consequently this means that most casinos are operated from small island principalities. These are certain regions in the world that have a specific legislation in place which allows them to license and regulate companies that operate online gambling sites or provide gambling industry services (such as the supply of gaming software). These regions are referred to as online gambling jurisdictions or licensing jurisdictions. Within these jurisdictions, there’s usually an organization that’s responsible for issuing licenses and regulating the licensees: The licensing authorities.
The most common countries offering online casinos a regulated (and taxed) base for operation are Gibraltar, Costa Rica, Antigua and Barbuda, Curacao, Malta, the Isle Of Man and a small Indian reservation in Canada called Kahnawake. Each of these jurisdictions provide varying levels of regulation, but this is an important element for a player, since good regulation can prevent a casino from dodging their responsibilities. Of the above, both Gibraltar and the Isle Of Man (off the UK coast) have a strong reputation for ensuring operations are run smoothly and totally ‘above board’.
Casinos Near Chicago Illinois
Costa Rica is a jurisdiction that you are better off avoiding, since they tend to lack in taking action when needed and Kahnawake is actually quite interesting. It’s where a large number of online casinos house their gaming servers and while few if any operate from within the Reservation, Kahnawake alleged to provide a level of regulation to support players. Even though experience has learned that response from Kahnawake has been less than effective. Nonetheless, it is accepted that Kahnawake run a very secure environment for the gaming servers and know their tech stuff inside out, so even though the Kahnawake seal in itself may not mean much to some, it’s certainly not a negative.