Editor’s Note: As of Saturday, March 5, 2022, you no longer have to visit a retail sportsbook in Illinois to sign up for a legal online sportsbook. Instead, you can register for an Illinois sports betting account on your phone or computer.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker brought the in-person registration mandate earlier this month, leaving many Illinoisans wondering how they should go about getting an online sportsbook account.
We at PlayIllinois learned that the registration process for each of the six online sportsbooks in Illinois is different. You can download a sportsbook app, create your account from anywhere; however, you can’t start betting until you validate your account at one of the sportsbooks’ retail partners in Illinois.
As required by the state, each online sportsbook has a retail casino partner. There are eight retail sportsbooks throughout the state.
You can determine which retail sportsbook is closest to you:
- Barstool: Hollywood Casino Aurora, 1 W. New York St., Aurora, IL 60506
- BetRivers: Rivers Casino, 3000 S. River Road, Des Plaines, IL 60018
- Caesars by William Hill: Grand Victoria Casino, 250 S. Grove Ave., Elgin, IL 60120
- DraftKings: DraftKings at Casino Queen, 200 South Front St., East St. Louis, IL 62201
- FanDuel: FanDuel Sportsbook & Horse Racing, 9301 Collinsville Road, Collinsville, IL 62234
- PointsBet:
- Hawthorne Race Course, 3501 S. Laramie Ave., Stickney, IL 60804
- Club Hawthorne Crestwood, 13148 Rivercrest Drive, Crestwood, IL 60445
- Player’s Pub & Grill, 1250 River Road, Prospect Heights, IL 60070
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Here’s what you’ll need to do to validate your new online sportsbook account in Illinois, depending on which retail sportsbook location you visit.
DraftKings sign-up at DraftKings at Casino Queen
DraftKings at Casino Queen is in East St. Louis and, as you may have guessed, you can validate your online sports betting account at DraftKings there.
And, thanks to DraftKings’ partnership with GeoComply, a geolocation technology provider, you can sign up from anywhere on the casino property — including from the parking lot. There doesn’t need to be any wait at a registration window or face-to-face interaction at DraftKings at Casino Queen.
Barstool in-person sign-up at Hollywood Casino Aurora
You can validate your online Barstool account at Hollywood Casino Aurora, and the process is as easy as it is at the Casino Queen. Visit the property or the parking lot, and you are good to complete your registration. No face-to-face interaction or extra steps are necessary.
FanDuel in-person sign-up at FanDuel Sportsbook & Horse Racing
You can finalize your betting account by visiting FanDuel Sportsbook & Horse Racing in Collinsville. You can’t at Par-A-Dice Casino in East Peoria, even though the casino has a FanDuel retail sportsbook. That’s because FanDuel transferred its mobile license to its racetrack.
Download the FanDuel app and create an account beforehand, even if you can’t use it yet. That step will expedite the in-person registration process.
From there, here’s how the process goes:
- You must visit the sportsbook counter and say you need to verify your sportsbook account.
- You will need to provide your guest ID and email or username.
- Once the “supervisor” looks up your account, they will check your ID and approve the account.
- FanDuel will then add $100 in promotional play.
- The supervisor will ask you to sign out of the account and sign back in to confirm the account is verified.
- FanDuel requests that you sign a log as proof of in-person verification.
Caesars in-person sign-up at Grand Victoria Casino Elgin
You can sign up for Caesars by William Hill at the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin.
You can download the app before you go to the casino. Once in the app, you’ll follow the prompts on the screen and should be able to complete your registration easily. One note: You will need to take a selfie that shows you’re in the casino.
If you need personal assistance, Grand Victoria Casino has staff available to help you.
BetRivers in-person sign-up at Rivers Casino
BetRivers Sportsbook is partners with Rivers Casino in Des Plaines.
Like the others, you are advised to download the BetRivers app and create your account prior to arriving at Rivers to make the process as fast as possible.
From there, you should either visit the Rush Rewards counter or the sportsbook counter. They are in a similar part of the casino.
Then, a Rivers Casino employee will verify your information and help you complete your registration. Make sure to have an ID ready.
PointsBet sign-up at Hawthorne Race Course, Hawthorne Crestwood & Prospect Heights OTBs
You can validate your PointsBet Sportsbook account at Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney or the off-track-betting sites in Crestwood or Prospect Heights.
As with all other apps, it’s better to download the PointsBet app beforehand to make the process more efficient.
From there, you can follow the prompts on the screen to register as long as you’re at one of PointsBet’s three registration hubs.
Can I get around the geolocation requirement?
