Online Poker Legal In Illinois
Illinois Online Poker Law
Like a train hauling cattle through an ancient Chicago rail yard, legal online poker is inching its way toward implementation in Illinois. But that train has a few stops to make before it gets to the end of the line, where people can play online poker from their own homes all across the state of Illinois.
Illinois Poker - Poker Laws in Illinois - Home Poker Games. Is Poker Legal in the Illinois? Illinois is pretty strict about poker, but there legal ways to get into the game. To start with, gambling in general is made illegal, barring only a few specific exceptions, and most people will find it difficult or inconvenient to stay within the laws. As recently as March of 2013, Illinois lawmakers were introducing new bills, seeking to legalize online poker in the state. Whether these laws ever pass or not is, for now, almost beside the point; the main takeaway here is that the state of Illinois is a fairly gamer-friendly place, and its progressive approach to gambling is seen in its relatively lax poker laws.
Prohibiting even 'games of skill' like poker would be seen to scupper any chances of online poker getting regulated in Illinois, but in 2013 an overhaul of state gambling laws took place. Bill SB1739 - the Chicago Casino Development Authority Act - was a step toward boosting tourism in the Windy City and elsewhere by relaxing land-based casino. Illinois is a state that does face some restrictions when it comes to playing poker online. Some sites that take players from other states don’t accept new players from Illinois. Read Poker Atlas for the latest updates on live poker events at local card clubs and the riverboat casino scene. As for online poker in Illinois, we have you covered. Illinois State has no explicit mention if online poker rooms is a legal or illegal activity. Only legal activities in Illinois include horse racing, lotteries, charitable gambling, and pari-mutuel.
In 2013, Senate President John Cullerton introduced a gambling expansion bill that would increase the number of casinos in Illinois by five. It also included a sweeping online gambling bill that, if passed, would have made online gambling, including online poker, legal.
Getting people to agree with any type of gambling expansion is a lot like feeding them pills. That pill was way too big even for the moderate progressive Illinois General Assembly and its liberal governor Pat Quinn. Quinn publicly expressed his reservations about online casino gambling. Almost immediately, the online gambling portions of the bills were stripped. The bill died anyway, thanks to infighting as to where the proceeds from gambling expansion would go.
Illinois is facing both education- and pension-funding crises. Once all the backroom negotiations are done — the 2013 bill was somewhat rushed, and Cullerton’s colleagues felt it was sprung on them, particularly the online-gambling components — casino gambling will occur in Illinois.
That’s the first stop, and it should pass in 2014. Chicago should have a major card room and casino sometime in 2015, and Illinois would have four other casinos around the state. This will improve its poker community drastically. For now, the state only has a few dozen legal poker tables. Compare this to Pennsylvania, which has about the same number of residents, but supports more than 250 tables.
Cullerton’s bill called for the state’s lottery system to run online games, including poker. A separate bill that also died in committee in 2013 would have allowed people to play the lottery through the Internet.
Those are called baby steps. As other states surrounding Illinois begin to go live, look for Illinois to move ahead with online poker. Cullerton, who is one of the most powerful members of the General Assembly, promised to break out the online gambling portion of the bill and introduce it separately in 2014.
When Will Online Poker be Legal in Illinois?
Legal Poker Sites In Illinois
Although an online poker bill is off the legislative table for 2013, expect a standalone online poker bill to be introduced and passed by its General Assembly by 2015. However, it could be as late as 2016, depending on how fast other states act, and how desperate the state’s officials are to fill in spending gaps. But it will almost definitely happen.
How Big is Illinois’s Online Poker Market?
With 12.8 million residents, Illinois is the fifth-most-populous state. With about 8.6 million people over the age of 21, Illinois’s potential online-poker market sits at about 860,000 (recent market studies suggest about 10 percent of the population played real-money poker before Black Friday).
Online Poker Illinois News
This puts Illinois in the same category as Pennsylvania and Florida, making all three states some of the most lucrative online poker markets in the world. All the residents can do at this point is … wait.
Recent Action
Will Online Poker Become Legal In Illinois
