The Land of Lincoln is close to joining the other six states that allow online gambling and could head towards a more liberal gambling approach. Horse racing and riverboat casinos exist alongside charitable games, raffles, and bingo, so it’s not a stretch to say the basis for more gambling laws to expand exists. With 15 registered casinos, Illinois could see more than $270 million pouring into its coffers from tax revenue should internet gambling become a reality.

But until such change is official, the people of Illinois are not without options. As Aneeca Younasa states, plenty of offshore casinos accept players from Illinois. But players may soon have no need to turn to overseas sites. Two bills from February 2024, coupled with a promising bill the Internet Gaming Act (IGA), are making local online casinos a plausible reality in Illinois.

Illinois Senate has until January 11. 2025 to hold a legislative session on the matter, but 2024 could serve as a warm-up before the finale. One strong push towards making significant changes to gambling laws is because the state budget is struggling. An increasing pension dept which treats the state budget needs a quick injection of revenue, and possible taxation to online gambling, issuing permissions, and added jobs and investments could cover it. Aldermen states that incredible $1.7 billion investments into casinos could elevate some tension.

The famous River West section could be home to a new casino or casinos, but it will take time. For such impactful changes to happen, the Illinois Constitution must be amended first, which is a complicated procedure. When Illinois legalized sports betting in 2020 till now, the state got over $1 billion in revenue, and the number can only escalate if online casinos join the fray. IGA could be the final push that heralds the upcoming changes. It was brought up in 2021 and has survived until 2022. Because 2023 marks a new legal season, Rep. Carroll used the IGA as the foundation for a new bill containing very similar, and in many cases, the same semantics and content as the IGA.

Rep. Carroll is not the only one striving for changes, as Rep. Edgar Gonzalez Jr also proposed his variation of the IGA called HB 2239, but with three significant differences, unlike Rep Carroll’s idea. HB 2239 would have lower license fees, enabling more online casinos to sprout, but it would have a higher tax rate, so Illinois benefits more, and there would be no more personal registration. HB 2239 showed promise as it reached the House Gaming Committee threshold, but was returned for more fine-tuning and preparation.

While some view this as a setback, Rep. Gonzalez Jr remains optimistic since 2024 is still in its early stages. All of these bills and pushes are creating conversations and stirring up the general opinion, and the end goal for any bill is to reach the Committee discussion because it can only advance from there and gain more traction. Informing the general public, thus gaining public support and educating other lawmakers all led to more support towards pushing IGA inside the Senate and the Illinois constitution.