Ahead of March Madness, Illinois ends in-person registration requirement for sports betting

Saturday, March 5, 2022 6:19 PM
  • Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune

The 2-year-old Illinois sports betting industry is about to become a whole new game for couch potato gamblers.

Waived for 10 months during the pandemic, Illinois is permanently eliminating the in-person registration requirement for sports betting Saturday, opening up the floodgates for DraftKings, FanDuel and other online sportsbooks to compete for Chicago-area customers. The amendment to the state’s sports wagering act goes into effect just in time for March Madness, and analysts say it could boost Illinois to a record $1 billion in legal sports bets this month…

A new player joined the competition this week after the Illinois Gaming Board approved BetMGM, the nation’s third-largest sportsbook, as the online sports betting platform for Par-A-Dice Casino in East Peoria.