Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has ended the temporary allowance for players in the state to register for sports betting accounts online.
A temporary law was introduced to allow users to register remotely as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and momentary shutdown of casinos.
However, it’s now back to in-person registration after Pritzker decided to no longer allow remote sign-ups.
This was despite the reissuing of numerous other coronavirus-related emergency executive orders.
Online registration didn’t last for long
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois, Pritzker announced that players would be able to register for sports betting accounts remotely from 8th June. Casinos had been shut since March, but have now been allowed to reopen at a limited capacity.
BetRivers took advantage of the window, launching its online sportsbook on 18th June. This was done via Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, which also took the state’s first legal sports bet after the vertical’s regulation.
DraftKings and FanDuel had both been given temporary licences and sought to speed up their launch process while in-person registration was suspended.
What options do online-only operators have now?
Option one would be to wait 18 months, before then applying for a $20 million online licence. Online-only operators in the state had to wait 540 days after a land-based operator was awarded a sports betting permit, which happened last month.
The second option for online-only operators is to partner with an existing land-based casino. And that’s exactly what DraftKings has done. The operator has wasted no time at all, joining forces with Casino Queen and rebranding the property “DraftKings at Casino Queen”.
Illinois will enable sports bettors to register remotely again, but only when the first $20 million online-only licence is awarded. That, for now, won’t be for a while.
