How to get a gambling licence in Illinois: fees and steps

The Illinois Gaming Board regulates online sports wagering and issues the licences. Two other bodies handle other online products: the Illinois Racing Board for advance deposit wagering on horse racing, and the Department of the Lottery for the State Lottery.

• The Board has five members appointed by the Governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. For sports wagering the Board decides on suitability and the Administrator issues the licence once the applicant is found suitable and the fee is paid.
• There is no separate advertising regulator and no Illinois anti-money-laundering supervisor for sports wagering. Rule 1900.340 applies the Board's casino advertising rule to sports wagering, and the anti-money-laundering regime is federal.
• One master sports wagering licence covers all sports wagering the licensee offers, in person and over the Internet or by mobile application. The Board does not issue a licence per sport or per channel.
• A master licensee may offer online wagering only under its own brand, or under a brand owned by a holding company that owned at least 80% of it on the Act's effective date. As of 6 November 2026 the Board's list of operating sportsbooks holds 14 operating master licensees, 10 of which have an online brand.
• Operating an internet site that lets a person play a game of chance or skill for money is gambling under 720 ILCS 5/28-1(a)(12), a Class A misdemeanor, and a Class 4 felony on a second or later conviction.

Laws that apply

• Sports Wagering Act, 230 ILCS 45 (articles 25-10 to 25-120.8)
• 11 Ill. Adm. Code Part 1900 (Sports Wagering rules of the Illinois Gaming Board)
• 86 Ill. Adm. Code Part 3000 (casino rules, applied to sports wagering for advertising and testing laboratories)
• Illinois Gambling Act, 230 ILCS 10 (applies where the Sports Wagering Act is silent)
• Criminal Code, 720 ILCS 5/28-1 (gambling, including internet gambling sites)
• Public Act 104-468 (fantasy contest operator licence and exchange-wager tax, from 16 June 2026)

The Sports Wagering Act has four forms of master licence and several licences for the businesses around a sportsbook. The online-only operator licence is the one not tied to a land-based licence, and none has been issued.

• As of 6 November 2026 the Board's register shows 16 master licences (2 organization licensees, 13 owners licensees and 1 sports facility designee) and none issued under section 25-45.
• Only the sports facility class has a number in the statute: up to 7 master licences, granted in the order the applications were received. The current text of section 25-45 says the Board may issue online operator licences and gives no number.
• The rules still describe an open selection of three winning bidders (Rule 1900.620) and a supplementary selection when fewer than three online licences are active (Rule 1900.630). The statute prevails over the older rule text.
• The Board says marketing affiliates are generally not suppliers unless their systems integrate directly with the licensee's sports wagering system, but the licensee stays liable for what an affiliate does for it.
• The supplier term needs a note: section 25-50(d), amended by Public Act 104-852 from 21 August 2026, provides for 4-year renewals, while Rule 1900.740(d)(3) still gives a one-year renewal term.

No Illinois entity, office, bank account or resident director is required, and neither the Act nor Part 1900 sets a nationality or seat test. Suitability is what decides an application, and the applicant carries the burden of showing it.

• A master licensee or management services provider operating in Illinois as a foreign corporation or LLC keeps a certificate of authority from the Illinois Secretary of State. The Board's register lists licensed suppliers established in Malta, the United Kingdom, Canada and many US States.
• No minimum share capital is set. In the competitive selection of online operators the Board weighs adequate capitalization, and every master licensee must hold the cash reserves in Rule 1900.1050.
• Every owner of 5% or more of the voting rights or interests, the directors, and the CEO, COO and CFO (or equivalents) are key persons of a master licence or management services provider applicant. Key persons must be approved by the Board wherever they live.
• Applicants file a Table of Organization, Ownership and Control showing every person and entity that directly or indirectly manages, owns or controls the applicant. For listed companies it names holders above 5% of voting shares.
• Owners, officers, directors, managers, members and partners give fingerprints for a national criminal records check by the Illinois State Police and the FBI.
• An applicant is not eligible if it, an owner, a key person or an employee who takes part in managing sports wagering has been convicted of any felony or of any violation of Article 28 of the Criminal Code, or has submitted false information. An online operator applicant is also ineligible after a conviction for a crime of dishonesty or moral turpitude.
• The Board may refuse an applicant whose background, associations or business practices threaten the public interest or the integrity of sports wagering, or who has had a gaming licence revoked, suspended or denied in Illinois or elsewhere.
• The Board may accept another jurisdiction's licensing as evidence for supplier and management services provider licensing, and its equipment approval as evidence of equipment standards. The applicant still applies and pays the full fee.

Applications go to the Board's Licensing Unit electronically. For most classes there is no window and no decision deadline, so the timeline is open-ended.

• Rule 1900.710(a) requires electronic copies of the forms, and the Board asks applicants to call the Licensing Unit for instructions on electronic submission. An application is filed only when the completed form, all documents, fingerprints and any application fee are in.
• The long application for a master licence or management services provider lists 15 items, including a request to release information, an affidavit of full disclosure, IRS tax transcripts for the past five years, tax returns for the past three years, key person disclosure forms and the draft internal controls of the proposed operation.
• A business plan is required for master licence and management services provider applicants. The form asks for annual pro forma budgets and pro forma financial statements for the next three years, expected start-up costs, projected gross win for the first year and the proposed annual advertising budget by medium.
• The application also asks for a statement of the capitalization of the proposed operation, including the amount and source of debt and equity, and a list of all sources of financing contacted.
• Master licences for owners and organization licensees, sports facilities, management services providers, suppliers and tier 2 providers can be applied for at any time. For online operators, Rule 1900.620 provides a 120-day application period opened by public notice on the Board's website, with a 30-day cure for incomplete bids and fingerprints due within 30 days of the close. The Board has posted no online operator application notice.
• A temporary operating permit can be issued once the application is complete and the fee is paid, to an owners or organization applicant that holds or is affiliated with a gaming licence holder, to a supplier or tier 2 applicant licensed elsewhere for the same goods or services, and to a management services provider applicant affiliated with an owners, organization or master licensee.
• A holder of an Illinois Gambling Act supplier licence is granted the sports wagering supplier licence once the application is complete, its description of products or services is updated and the application fee is paid (Rule 1900.780).
• A denied applicant may ask for a hearing in writing, verified and notarized, within 10 days after service of the Notice of Denial; otherwise the Notice becomes the Board's final order. A refused applicant may not reapply for one year unless the Board gives leave.

The fixed fees are in the cost snapshot and the table below. Beyond them the Board can bill for technology review, and every master licensee must hold cash reserves and guarantees that stay with the licensee.

• An owners or organization licensee licensed after 28 June 2019 pays $5,000,000, adjusted 12 months after operations begin to 5% of its first 12 months of adjusted gross receipts or handle.
• A small fantasy contest operator is one with 7,500 patrons or fewer in the preceding 365 days.
• There is no annual fee for master or management services provider licences, and no fee per brand, domain or website. A further brand run on revenue share needs its own management services provider licence.
• A new online sports wagering operator licence costs $15,250,000 in fees ($250,000 plus $15,000,000). A company operating under a casino or racetrack master licence as a management services provider pays the $1,000,000 licence and application fee.
• The Administrator may bill an applicant or licensee directly for the expenses of testing, certification, installation, training and review of sports wagering technology (Rule 1900.1400). The licensee also pays the certified public accountant who audits it.
• Each master licensee must keep a cash reserve of at least 20% of all sports wagering account balances, with cash equivalents covering the rest of the balances, a cash reserve equal to unredeemed or cancelled wagers on decided events, and guarantees equal to its theoretical maximum exposure. These are held by the licensee, not paid to the Board.
• No segregation or trust account is required for player funds; the reserve takes that role. No responsible gambling levy or charitable contribution is set on licensees.

Illinois taxes sports wagering through a privilege tax under section 25-90 with three layers: a graduated tax on adjusted gross receipts, a per-wager tax on online wagers, and a transaction tax on exchange wagers. Each layer came from a different Public Act.

• Until 30 June 2024 the rate was a flat 15%. The same five-band schedule applies to online and other wagering, but only online wagers carry the per-wager tax. Rule 1900.1040(e) still prints a 15% rate; the later subsections of the Act prevail over that sentence.
• Adjusted gross sports wagering receipts are the gross receipts less winnings paid to wagerers. Bonuses, free bets and promotional credits are not a listed deduction.
• The graduated tax and the per-wager tax are due no later than the last day of the month after the receipts accrued. The Tax and Fee Schedule is filed by 12:00 noon on the due date and paid by ACH debit.
• Corporate income tax is 7% of net income plus 2.5% personal property tax replacement income tax for corporations other than S corporations. No VAT and no advertising or sponsorship tax applies to sports wagering.
• Players: Illinois taxes individuals at 4.95% of net income and requires withholding on sports wagering winnings at 4.95% where federal withholding applies. Federally the payer withholds 24% where winnings minus the wager exceed $5,000 and the winnings are at least 300 times the wager.

Illinois licenses no game provider as such. Every business that sells equipment or systems, supplies gaming data or odds, or runs the sportsbook needs a supplier or management services provider licence, and all wagering equipment must be tested and certified in Illinois.

• A platform provider that sells or leases the sports wagering system holds a supplier licence. One that operates the sportsbook for the master licensee holds a management services provider licence before the contract is signed.
• Payment, hosting and aggregation businesses have no licence class of their own. A supplier licence applies where they maintain wagering equipment, supply odds or gaming data, or where the Board decides their goods or services affect the integrity or security of the operation.
• The Board publishes an Applicant and Licensee List and a Vendor Opportunities page naming supplier licensees and the management services providers of the operators.
• Wagering equipment must be tested by a licensed independent laboratory and certified by the Administrator before use. As of 6 November 2026 the Board lists three laboratories: Gaming Laboratories International LLC, BMM Test Labs and Eclipse Compliance Testing.
• The Administrator may issue a temporary certification of 90 days, renewable for good cause, to equipment already approved in a similar jurisdiction. Local certification is still required.
• The sports wagering system must be tested and re-certified at least every six months, and a new core function must be certified before it goes live.
• All servers necessary to place or resolve wagers, other than backups, must be physically in Illinois. The rules are silent on cloud hosting as such, so the Illinois location condition applies to whatever infrastructure holds those servers.
• Each master licensee gives the Board remote, read-only, real-time access to the sports wagering system at no cost, including all wager records.
• Geolocation is mandatory. A wager may be placed only by a person physically in Illinois, and the system must detect location on login or before the first wager after login and must refuse a wager if it detects an attempt to defeat location detection.
• Wager records are kept for not less than 10 years. No Illinois domain is required.
• Online sports wagering has no return-to-player rule and no maximum stake or maximum win.

The minimum age is 21. Every wager goes through a verified sports wagering account, and one statewide Self-Exclusion List binds every master licensee and management services provider.

• The licensee verifies identity when the account is opened, either in person by examining government photo identification or by remote multi-sourced authentication approved by the Administrator. A password and two-factor authentication are offered, and a new device needs two-factor authentication the first time.
• Wagers are accepted only in United States currency. Account funding is a closed list: a debit card, ACH transfer, a verified reloadable prepaid card, cash at a wagering location, or US currency through a money transmitter licensed under the Transmitters of Money Act. Credit cards and cryptocurrency are not on the list.
• No fee may be charged to withdraw or receive funds. The rules set no time limit for paying out withdrawals.
• The Self-Exclusion List is run by the Board. Enrolment carries a minimum of 5 years, and after that a person may ask the Administrator in writing to be removed on the basis of the elimination of a mental health or medical condition. Proposed amendments to the self-exclusion rules were published in the Illinois Register on 2 October 2026 and are not law.
• A licensee must refuse a new account to a listed person, suspend any existing account, and flag the person on all mailing and promotional lists. Any wager a listed person placed is void.
• Licensees must offer player limits under Rule 1900.1250 and show the gambling-help statement with the number 1-800-GAMBLER before login.

Advertising by licensees is allowed and regulated by the Board itself. Nothing is approved in advance, and the licensee answers for every advertisement placed on its behalf, including by affiliates.

• Rule 1900.340 applies Rule 3000.680 to all advertising and marketing by or on behalf of a sports wagering applicant or licensee. It covers broadcast media, billboards or signage, internet advertising, social media, direct and electronic mail, and sweepstakes or giveaways.
• No channel is banned. An advertisement may not be placed before an audience where the majority is reasonably expected to be under 21, on outlets that appeal primarily to under-21s, or on college or university media.
• Advertising may not be false, deceptive or misleading, and may not call gambling free if the patron must risk his or her own money to use, obtain or withdraw winnings.
• A licensee may not contract with a third party other than an affiliated entity to advertise where compensation depends on or relates to the volume or outcome of wagers.
• Each master licensee and management services provider keeps a copy of every sports wagering advertisement with a log of when and how it was published, and gives them to the Board on request.
• All direct marketing must offer an unsubscribe option. A licensee may not send direct digital marketing to a patron who has set a responsible gaming limit.

Master licensees file monthly, quarterly and annual returns, commission an annual audit by a certified public accountant, and need the Board's leave before ownership changes.

• An ownership interest in a master licensee or management services provider can be transferred or pledged only with leave of the Board, which applies the same suitability criteria as for licensing. A person acquiring more than 5% of a listed parent is investigated for suitability.
• Key persons report material changes within 30 days and can be fined or disciplined for the licensee's violations.
• AML: a master licensee must make commercially reasonable efforts to notify the Board promptly of suspicious or illegal wagering, including wagers to conceal or launder funds. A casino licensed under State law with gross annual gaming revenue above $1 million must keep a written AML compliance programme under 31 CFR 1021.210. No Illinois-resident money laundering reporting officer is required.
• The Board may fine a licensee up to $10,000, or the daily gross receipts if larger, for each violation, and may suspend or revoke a licence. It has no power to block a site, domain or app; its tool against unlicensed operators is the cease-and-desist letter.

The route most entrants take: a sportsbook run for a casino, racetrack or sports facility that holds a master licence, under a management services provider licence of the operator's own. The online operator route and the fantasy contest licence follow below.

1. 01

   Choose your route

   230 ILCS 45/25-30 to 25-55

   Decide whether you will operate under a master licensee as its management services provider, apply for an online sports wagering operator licence, or supply the market as a supplier. A company that shares in a master licensee's revenue must hold the management services provider licence in every case.

2. 02

   Agree terms with a master licensee

   230 ILCS 45/25-55

   Contract with a casino, racetrack or sports facility licensee. The Board's register pairs each master licensee with a management services provider and an app brand, and the licence must be held before the contract to run the operation is signed.

3. 03

   Confirm suitability

   Rule 1900.510 · 230 ILCS 45/25-20

   Confirm that no owner, key person or manager has a felony or an Article 28 conviction. List every owner of 5% or more, the directors, and the CEO, COO and CFO as key persons, and prepare the Table of Organization, Ownership and Control.

4. 04

   File the application

   Rule 1900.710

   Call the Licensing Unit for instructions and file the long application electronically with its tabbed exhibits, key person disclosure forms, fingerprints, three years of pro forma financial statements, IRS transcripts and tax returns, and the draft internal controls. Pay the $1,000,000 licence and application fee.

5. 05

   Obtain a temporary operating permit if eligible

   Rule 1900.710

   A management services provider applicant affiliated with an owners, organization or master licensee can be issued a temporary operating permit once the application is complete and the fee is paid. The Administrator may rescind it for just cause.

6. 06

   Certify the platform and fund the reserves

   Rules 1900.1050 · 1900.1410

   Have the system tested by a licensed laboratory and certified by the Administrator, with the wager-receiving servers in Illinois. The master licensee holds the cash reserve of at least 20% of account balances, the reserve for unredeemed wagers and the guarantees for maximum exposure, and its internal control system must be approved before wagering starts.

7. 07

   Go live and keep filing

   230 ILCS 45/25-90 · Rule 1900.1040

   The master licensee pays the monthly graduated privilege tax, per-wager tax and any exchange-wager tax, files the Tax and Fee Schedule by noon on the due date, and commissions the annual audit. Renew the licence every 4 years.

The only master licence not tied to a casino, racetrack or sports facility. None has been issued and no application window is open, so this route is a watching brief until the Board posts a notice.

1. 01

   Watch for the Board's notice

   Rule 1900.620

   The rules provide for a 120-day application period opened by public notice on the Board's website, with a 30-day cure for incomplete bids. The statute prints no window, and the Board has posted no notice.

2. 02

   Prepare the bid and the suitability file

   Rule 1900.620

   An online operator bid attaches a comprehensive plan with any additional licence fees, revenue share and other commitments, and the Bid Summary Form. The Board weighs the highest prospective revenue to the State and adequate capitalization. Fingerprints are due within 30 days after the close.

3. 03

   Pay the application fee and the licence fee

   230 ILCS 45/25-45

   The application fee is $250,000 and the licence fee is $15,000,000, a total of $15,250,000, with a $1,000,000 renewal every 4 years. The Board must name the winning bidders no more than 90 days after publishing the qualified applicants, followed by a suitability investigation.

A separate licence from the Board, available from 16 June 2026 under sections 25-120 to 25-120.8. Offering fantasy contests without it is a Class 4 felony.

1. 01

   Confirm the contest qualifies

   230 ILCS 45/25-120.1

   The contest must have prizes fixed in advance and outcomes decided by objective statistical scoring, with no outcome based on a single team or single performance. Participants must be 21 or over and in Illinois, confirmed by geolocation.

2. 02

   Apply and pay the fee

   230 ILCS 45/25-120.3

   Apply to the Board. The application and initial licence fee is $500 for a small operator and $7,500 for a large one. Renewal is every 2 years at $300 or $5,000.

3. 03

   Certify the platform

   230 ILCS 45/25-120.6

   The platform must be certified by an approved laboratory and re-tested annually. A licensee must comply with all applicable anti-money-laundering standards.

4. 04

   Pay the 15% tax

   230 ILCS 45/25-120.7

   A privilege tax of 15% of adjusted gross fantasy contest receipts applies from 1 July 2026. Operators active before 16 June 2026 may continue until 90 days after the implementing rules take effect. As of 6 November 2026 the Board's sports wagering pages carry no fantasy contest rule or form.

For platform, odds, data, geolocation and equipment businesses that sell to Illinois master licensees.

1. 01

   Apply for the supplier licence

   230 ILCS 45/25-50

   File the supplier and tier 2 application, long or short form, with the $150,000 licence and application fee. A supplier licensed elsewhere for the same goods or services may receive a temporary operating permit once the application is complete.

2. 02

   List and test every product

   230 ILCS 45/25-50 · Rule 1900.1410

   Give the Board a list of all sports wagering equipment and services offered to Illinois master licensees. Each item is tested by a licensed independent laboratory and certified by the Administrator, and equipment may go only to a master licensee, a management services provider or another supplier.

3. 03

   Pay the annual fee

   230 ILCS 45/25-50

   From 4 years after the initial licence the supplier pays $150,000 a year.

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 6 Nov 2026.