Gov. J.B. Pritzker Extends Illinois Online Betting Registration
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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker extended online sports betting registration for the fifth time on Friday. This will allow anyone in the Land of Lincoln to create a sports betting account online instead of going to a sportsbook to sign-up.
Pritzker put in an executive order this summer to allow Illinoians to register for online sports betting accounts when casinos and sportsbooks were closed due to COVID-19. This allowed people in the state to create an account still, so when major U.S. sports returned, they could start playing.
Illinois saw over $100 million wagered in August thanks to online sports betting. The state has seen exponential growth since U.S. sports returned to action this summer, and Illinois will capitalize on the growing sports betting industry.
Priztker’s Executive Order
Pritzker’s original executive order to allow online sports betting registration started in June and lasted until the end of July. When the order expired, Pritzker decided not to renew this order, which conveniently expired the day before DraftKings Sportsbook was set to launch.
Originally, some believed that this was a way for Illinois to punish online sportsbooks like DraftKings and FanDuel from having customers sign-up when they launched in the state. Illinois betting regulations tried to make online sports betting companies wait 18 months in a “penalty box” period, allowing local sportsbooks to enter the market first.
The plan was to punish DraftKings and FanDuel for allegedly operating online daily fantasy sports illegally in Illinois back in 2015. However, DraftKings found a loophole around the “penalty box” period and entered the Illinois market four months after sports betting officially launched.
The state of Illinois went three weeks before Pritzker decided to renew the executive order again, allowing Illinoians to register for sports betting accounts online. Since then, Pritzker has renewed the executive order and will now run through mid-December.
Online Registration in Illinois
The state has benefitted from online registration. The state is seeing great numbers from sports betting thanks to Pritzker continuously extending the executive order.
BetRivers benefitted the most early on during the pandemic due to being the only sportsbook available in Illinois. The betting operator had a four and a half month head start over DraftKings, who was the second sportsbook to enter. However, with five sports betting operators in Illinois, everyone is beginning to benefit from online registration as the pandemic keeps people away from heading to the sportsbook.
When major U.S. sports returned in August, Illinois saw its betting handle at $139 million for the month. It was an impressive start for the first full month of U.S. sports as the market finally was able to see legit numbers. September was even better when the state saw the betting handle hit $305 million.
Whether it was intentional or not, Illinois lawmakers were slowing down the sports betting market from growth with its regulations. Fortunately, Gov. Pritzker finally realized it was the right idea to allow bettors to register for accounts online instead of in-person. Now, Illinois is reaping the benefits.
Pritzker should continue to extend the executive order as long as he needs to.
