Online Real Money Poker Illinois
Yes, it is legal to play online poker in Illinois, as long as you know where to play. Online poker has never been illegal on the federal or state level in Illinois. Despite popular belief, there are multiple legal online poker options available for residents of Illinois. Illinois has been trying to legalize its online poker industry since 2013. In 2019, the state remains one of the top candidates for passing an online poker bill that would allow it to forge ahead and build a place where players can enjoy themselves a fair bit. At the end of last year, Illinois was most certainly worth a. Real Money Deposits & Withdrawals Download our software for free on your desktop or mobile device, then select any of the easy-to-use deposit options listed below. In addition to below, you can login to your account through our website and visit the Cashier to deposit.
ByLast Updated February 18, 2021
Home to the “Windy City” and an eternal favorite of gamblers, Illinois is the base for a multitude of successful online and live tournament poker professionals. Poker seems to be in the state’s blood; President Obama often recalls his late-night games of poker played during his time at the Illinois Statehouse. In the live poker scene, locals have a wide variety of upcoming tournaments in poker clubs and riverboat casinos they can enter. Illinois has a more complicated relationship with real cash online poker.
In our guide to online poker in Illinois, we’ll explain and analyze the current gambling laws in Illinois, while discussing the poker sites which accept players from the state. We’ll discuss the odds that Illinois lawmakers regulate the Internet poker industry. This review of Illinois online poker laws will analyze whether existing gaming interests in the state support or oppose such laws.
Illinois Online Poker Guide
If you want to play online poker in IL, we suggest that you choose a room from our list below. The poker sites in this list have been chosen because they accept Illinois players, are regulated and – most importantly – have the softest games of all available Illinois online poker rooms. Here are the top legal Illinois online poker rooms
Is Online Poker Legal in Illinois?
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.
Thankfully, you don’t have to worry about finding the right site that will allow you to sign up from Illinois; our list of real poker sites in Illinois on this page is comprised exclusively of rooms that take players from Illinois, saving your time for the online poker tables.
Best Online Poker Sites in Illinois for Real Money in 2021
Deposit Limits: $10 – $5,000
Accepts: Visa, Bitcoin, Mastercard, Bank Wire
Ignition is a popular option for players in the United States. They offer most popular cash game variants and more than $1.5 million in weekly online poker tournament guarantees. Ignition also offers Zone Poker, similar to Zoom Poker where you’re moved to a new table and dealt a new hand every time you fold.
Ignition Poker also offer a wide variety of poker promotions.
Join Ignition Poker here and get up to $2000 free!
Deposit Limits: $10 – $5,000
Accepts: Bitcoin, Visa, Bank Wire
Licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, Bovada is one of the oldest online poker sites servicing America. Bovada offers anonymous tables and a mobile-optimized design allowing play on all mobile platforms. The design makes it feel like you’re playing in Las Vegas rather than your home computer.
They offer a wide variety of cash games and tournaments with over $1.5 million in weekly guarantees.
Join Bovada Poker here and get a $500 bonus!
Deposit Limits: $25 – $25,000
Accepts: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Visa, MasterCard, Money Transfers, Bank Wire
Sportsbetting.ag offers a robust online poker option with excellent cash game and tournament action. For cash games, they provide weekly cash leaderboards with $10,000 in prizes weekly. They offer over $45,000 in weekday guarantees, over $130,000 in guarantees on Saturday and over $275,000 in guarantees on Sunday.
If you like fast-fold poker variants like Zoom Poker, you’ll love Boost Poker. Get a new hand every time you fold in this fast-paced game.
Join Sportsbetting.ag – 100% up to $1000 for new US players!
All Poker and Gambling Laws by State
Illinois was close last year. There was a strong bill championed by State Representative Robert Rita and others, there were hearings, and there was widespread support for the sports betting part of the bill. Online poker and casino games were also included in that gambling expansion bill, along with new
Read Full- December 28th, 2018
Last year, the attempt to predict which states might join the ranks of those with legalized online poker was not very successful. In fact, only one state actually passed such legislation in 2018, but at the very last minute, on December 28, that state’s governor vetoed the bill. Oh, Michigan!
Read Full - October 18th, 2018
Illinois was one of only a few states that held open the possibility of legalizing online poker and other casino games in latter part of 2018. The consideration has been part of a larger gambling expansion bill that was and remains on the table for lawmakers this year. While online
Read Full - August 26th, 2018
While most other states that had considered online poker in 2018 abandoned those ideas earlier in the year, Illinois remained open to it. One lawmaker continues to champion one bill, and its future may depend on a legislative hearing set for October. The process of legalizing online gaming – whether
Read Full - August 2nd, 2018
Most states that examined online poker in early 2018 have abandoned it for the year, as legislative sessions ended and no plans were made to revisit online gaming at all in the next few months. Illinois, it appears, is not one of those states. There wasn’t much hope placed in
Read Full - May 29th, 2018
Online poker and gambling became real legislative possibilities for Illinois in 2017. The Senate even passed a bill to legalize and regulate those internet games one year ago, but the companion bill on the House side never garnered enough support to even pass a committee. There has been no word
Read Full
Latest Updates Through 2021
Actions in the Illinois legislature in 2017 gave many legal online poker supporters hope that lawmakers were beginning to see the positives of legalizing and regulating online gaming. There was a bill that would’ve done just that for online poker and casino games, which passed the full Senate by a 42-10 vote in May, but the House bill never made it through committee as hearings were cancelled at the last minute.
However, online poker remained on the table going into 2018. State Representative Michael Zalewski’s H.479 was still being pushed, and he was confident that the right mix of gambling expansion projects would be appealing to a majority of lawmakers.
The tide began to turn not long after the United States Supreme Court overturned PASPA, which allowed New Jersey and all other states to address sports betting as they chose. Supporters of online gambling revised SB.7 to add daily fantasy sports and sports betting to the bill, but it happened late in the session and too close to its closing date of May 31.
Senate Bill 7 became a bipartisan bill, with several Republican and Democratic sponsors: Senators Terry Link, Dave Syverson, Mattie Hunter, and Donne Trotter; and Representatives Robert Rita, Rita Mayfield, Chad Hays, and Litesa Wallace. The proposal included articles for the “Fantasy Sports Act,” “Internet Gaming Act,” and “Sports Wagering Act.” Importantly, though, the bill lacked details about tax rates, licensing, and the regulatory framework.
One of those sponsors, Rita, then took an opportunity in the summer of 2018 to announce two hearings to discuss gambling expansion for Illinois. The first was held on August 22 in Chicago, and it was more than four hours of debate featuring members of joint committees. The main topics were new land-based casinos and expanded numbers of video gaming terminals.
The second hearing in early October was held in Springfield and focused heavily on sports betting. Horse racing takes precedence in Illinois and it became clear that there were many issues to be worked out before a solid bill could be drafted and presented to legalize sports betting, but it will be a priority for many lawmakers in 2019. This may mean that SB.0007 could be discarded and rewritten, and it is unclear whether online poker and casino games will be included in a new online gambling bill to be considered in early 2019.
Some speculation was correct for 2019 in that lawmakers were ready to pull together for gambling expansion in the state of Illinois. However, online poker and other forms of internet gambling were not a part of that picture. No matter the intentions of some lawmakers, it did not happen.
In the summer of 2019, a massive gambling expansion bill passed through the legislature after months of negotiations and discussions. Governor J.B. Pritzker signed it into law. It included the legalization of video gaming terminal (VGT) establishments, five new casinos in Illinois, a mega-casino in Chicago, a new racetrack, slot machines and table games in racetracks (making them racinos), and sports betting.
There will be 16 retail sportsbooks in the state and three online sportsbooks for Illinois. Casinos, racetracks, and stadiums may begin applying for sports betting licenses in December 2019. Sports betting went live in land-based establishments and online in March 2020.
The future for online poker and internet slot and table games remains unknown. The inability to include online gambling into the omnibus bill was disappointing, and it is not known if there will be an opportunity to legalize those online games in 2021.
Type/Code | Summary |
---|---|
State Code Section(s) | 230.ICLS.5-40; 720.ICLS.5.28 |
Definition of Gambling & Player | Person Commits Gambling:Knowingly plays a game of chance or skill for money or other thing of value; or knowingly establishes, maintains, or operates an internet site that permits a person to play a game of chance or skill for money or other thing of value by means of the Internet or to make a wager upon the result of any game, contest, political nomination, appointment, or election by means of the Internet. |
Online Poker/Gambling | Multiple attempts to legalize online poker and internet gaming have happened in the last decade, but the most recent pieces of legislation came close to passage. The 2017 bill for online poker was paired with casino expansion and passed the Senate but not the House. There is talk of an omnibus bill that will include online gambling with other forms of gambling expansion in 2018 or 2019. |
Live Poker | Live poker is permitted in all of the casinos in Illinois, and the poker rooms offer cash games and tournaments. |
Casinos | The Riverboat Gambling Act permitted 10 fully-functional casinos to be established on riverboats, though the strict rules have been eased somewhat. There have been proposals to establish more casinos in Illinois, most recently via bills in 2017 and 2018. Lawmakers have come surprisingly close to expanding the number of casinos in the state. |
Sports Betting | A bill to legalize sports betting in Illinois casinos was introduced in 2018 and is still pending.. |
DFS | A 2017 proposal for daily fantasy sports carried over into 2018 and remains open for consideration, possibly as a part of a larger gambling expansion bill going forward. |
Other Forms of Gambling | Horse racing, pari-mutuel betting, bingo, raffles, pull-tabs, charitable gambling, poker runs, jar games, Native American gaming, video gaming terminals. |
Illinois Law and Online Poker
So where does Illinois stand when it comes to the law and online poker? The state does address the issue of online gambling directly in its law, so let’s talk a bit more about that part of the Illinois statute and a few other aspects that should be of interest to the typical online poker player.
First, what constitutes gambling in Illinois? The law is pretty clear; gambling occurs when someone
“plays a game of chance or skill for money or other thing of value” (Section 28-1).
The only exceptions are state-approved forms of gambling.
Violation of that section as a player is a class A misdemeanor (Section 28-1(c)). Illinois does not have a history of aggressively pursuing mere participants in illegal gambling.
What does Illinois law have to say about online gambling? It is illegal if someone plays poker online?
“knowingly establishes, maintains, or operates an internet site that permits a person to play a game of chance or skill for money or other thing of value by means of the internet or to make a wager upon the result of any game, contest, political nomination, appointment, or election by means of the internet” (Section 28-1(12)).”
Nothing in the section (or in any other part of Illinois law) appears to directly address the act of participating on such “internet sites” as a mere player.
What you’re left with is a situation that, to some degree, lacks legal clarity. However, that should not be mistaken as a blanket endorsement that all online gambling activity is explicitly legal. In such cases of uncertainty, players should start by reviewing the laws of Illinois personally, and then continue by consulting a lawyer if questions persist.
Illinois Gambling Guide
Most accounts of Illinois history assign gambling an early and prominent role in the story of the state. Whether through the lotteries of early settlers, the famous riverboat gambling ships that cruised Illinois waters during the 1800s or the ubiquitous, ever-present gambling halls of Chicago, you’d be hard-pressed to pick a point in the Illinois timeline that didn’t involve gambling in some way, shape or form.
Today’s gambling industry in Illinois is a result of nearly forty years of legislative shifts toward gambling expansion, one that began in 1974 with the authorization of the state lottery. Online poker legislation is an extension of those legislative trends, but like many states with a substantial land-based gambling industry, the existing interests complicate iGaming bills.
What Gambling is Regulated in Illinois?
Most popular forms of regulated gambling are permitted under Illinois law. In addition to the state lottery and the multiple casinos spread across the state, there is also legal pari-mutuel wagering in Illinois and a wide slate of charitable gambling formats.
Illinois has vastly expanded its gambling offerings in recent years, most extensively with a massive gambling expansion bill in 2019.
There had been more than 32,561 video gaming terminals (VGTs) in Illinois, and more were installed when the new law was implemented in 2020 with the creation of full VGT establishments. There were also 10 casinos in the state, but that was expanded this year to allow for five new casinos to be built and a mega-casino/resort in the city of Chicago. And on top of the three-horse racing tracks in Illinois already, an additional one was approved in 2019. Racetracks will also be able to expand to become racinos and offer up to 1,200 casino games, including slots and table games.
Online lottery games have been available for some time, but sports betting will now be available online. In 2021, there will be three online sportsbooks to complement the 16 retail sportsbooks. In addition, there will be 2,500 sports betting lottery kiosks permitted throughout the state.
IL Online Poker and Gambling Facts: Objective Sources
ICGA . The Illinois Casino Gaming Association is a trade group representing the interests of many of Illinois’ casinos. The group’s site provides useful research material for those interested in the Illinois gambling industry.
Illinois Gaming Board. The official site for the state gaming board is the definitive resource for legal and regulatory information concerning gambling in Illinois. Get information on meetings, measures, help with problem gambling and self-exclusion along with a wealth of statistical information at the IGB website.
ICPG The online home for the Illinois Council on Problem Gambling is a central location providing access to a 24-hour helpline, speakers, and resources for educators, families and players. The ICPG is opposed to poker laws that expand and regulate the industry.
Famous Illinois Poker Players
There are actually a number of points at which the history of poker and the history of Illinois intersect. One example is the story of James Butler Hickok, better known as “Wild Bill.” It was Hickok’s death that gave a name to the now-famous “dead mans hand” – two pair, aces and eights, said to be held by the lawman when he was shot during a poker game.
Another example comes in the colorful tale of Nick “The Greek” Dandolos, who called Chicago home for much of his life. Dandolos was part of the mythic (and much debated) match up with Johnny Moss that is often cited as the template for the World Series of Poker. A final, and more modern, illustration of the shared history between poker and Illinois is author and poker player Jim McManus, who lives in the state.
The plethora of live poker rooms in Illinois have allowed poker players to flourish in Illinois through the years. Even so, many of the state’s most famous players garnered most of their experience online.
Almost all of the top live tournament earners in Illinois were famous first for their online play, like Connor Drinan, Mohsin Charania, Gavin Griffin, and Kevin Saul. Their online poker earnings are not even included in the numbers below, which goes to show how well most of them crossed over from online to live play.
The top-ranked players from Illinois, as of 2019, are as follows:
1. Connor Drinan ($11.3 million)
2. Mohsin Charania ($6.2 million)
3. Gavin Griffin ($5.1 million)
4. Ryan Tosoc ($4.8 million)
5. Aaron Massey ($4.1 million)
6. Jason Wheeler ($4 million)
7. Ravi Raghavan ($4 million)
8. Kevin Saul ($3.7 million)
9. Chris Moor ($3.6 million)
10. Kyle Julius ($3.5 million)
Sources & Citations For This Article on Illinois Online Poker
Illinois poker players aren’t without options. You can play Texas Hold’em and Omaha at several cardrooms in the state.
But there’s only a dozen or so cardrooms in the state, and you might not live near one. So, your best bet might be to play poker online instead.
Online is how we prefer to play real money poker. If you’re interested in trying it, it couldn’t be any easier to get started. All you need is an account with one of the best Illinois poker sites.
Rank | Poker Site | Exclusive Bonus | Get Started | |
---|---|---|---|---|
#1 | 888poker | 100% Up To€400 | Visit Site | Visit Site |
We’re going to talk about choosing an online poker site later in our guide. But before we get to that, we want to talk a little bit about playing live poker in IL and what you can expect — both the good and the bad.
After that, we’ll share some of our top reasons for playing real money poker online instead of live. Then, we’ll follow this is up with an explanation for how to find the best online poker sites in Illinois.
Let’s get started.
There are about ten rooms in Illinois. This might sound like a lot, but you need to realize that’s all the casinos in the entire state.
Here are some of the cardrooms in Illinois.
- Grand Victoria Casino
- Harrah’s Joliet
- Hollywood Casino Aurora
- Par-A-Dice Hotel Casino
- Windy City Poker
- Chicagoland Charity Poker
- Central Illinois Charitable Games
- Jumer’s Casino
These are found all over the state. And some of the cardrooms are charity poker rooms which raise money for causes in Illinois. There aren’t as many options as you might think, considering you might have to travel across the state to play.
That’s one of the biggest issues online poker solves. You have just as many, if not more, real money US poker sites you can join online. And you can access any one of them in minutes instead of hours.
But this isn’t the only challenge live poker players in Illinois face, and it’s not the only challenge that online poker solves.
Here are a few others.
Most Illinois poker rooms offer Texas Hold’em and Omaha. But what if you want to play Stud, Pineapple, or H.O.R.S.E.?
Some cardrooms say they’ll spread the games you want to play; all you have to do is ask. But think about it, will they continue to offer weird games if there’s little action and more interest in mainstream games?
Probably not.
This is another challenge that online poker solves. Poker operators are able to offer a larger variety of games and variants because they don’t have to worry about space like land-based poker rooms do.
This enables them to offer games like Seven-Card Stud or Five-Card Draw that appeal to a smaller audience without neglecting their customers who prefer more mainstream games like Hold’em.
Tournaments Run Infrequently
Some casinos in Illinois run tournaments only a few times per week. And even if you find a cardroom that runs tournaments daily, it’s usually only between one and three per day.
This doesn’t give you a lot of options, especially if the type of game, structure, variant, or stakes isn’t what you want to play. This limits your options even more.
That’s why we prefer online poker, you have loads of tournaments to choose from, every single day.
Some of the top Illinois poker sites online run more than a dozen tournaments every day. The tourneys vary in size, game, variant, and format too, so it’s easy to find a tourney that best fits your budget, schedule, and interests.
One thing you’ll notice is that many cardrooms’ cash games are incredibly busy, especially during peak hours and over the weekend.
You can put your name on their waiting list, but who knows how long you’ll wait before they call you? And is waiting around how you want to spend the little free time you have for poker each week?
Online cash games are busy, too. The difference is that online poker rooms have more tables than live cardrooms.
What’s more is that you can easily check out another poker site to see if there’s an available table there. Or keep the lobby of several poker tables open at once so you can take the first available seat.
You need a large bankroll to play live poker. For example, let’s say that you don’t care about bankroll management and all you want is enough money to play for one day. How much money do you need?
Most live poker tournaments start at around $40 and go up from there. That doesn’t include the cost of any rebuys or add-ons either, which can add up fast. So, plan to spend at least $100 per MTT.
Most poker rooms spread $1/$2 or $1/$3 or $2/$4. We recommend you buy in for the max, which is at least 100 big blinds.
This means you’ll want $200 to $400 for one buy-in. And you’ll want money to top off your stack or rebuy as needed, so you should plan to bring $400 to $1,200 for a single cash game session.
Remember, this is only for one session. If you wanted to keep an actual poker bankroll, you’d want 20x our numbers above for cash games and 40x to 100x for tournaments.
Expensive, right?
Now, let’s compare this to online poker. You can play ring games for as little as $0.01/$0.02 per hand and MTTs for less than $5. The money you’d spend in one live session live could cover you for months, if not years online, assuming you have a proper bankroll and poker strategy.
So, yeah, online poker solves this challenge, too.
The bottom line is, there’s nothing wrong with playing live poker in Illinois, but it’s not an ideal choice for many players.
Online poker is going to make far more sense for the reasons mentioned above. But those aren’t the only reasons why you should consider playing real money online poker in Illinois.
More Reasons to Play Online Poker in Illinois
Here are seven more reasons why you should play poker online in Illinois.
You can make more money playing poker online.
Now, we don’t mean bigger wins. Chances are you’ll win more money winning a WSOP event or high stakes cash game than you will winning an online tournament. And that’s because the stakes and prize pools are generally larger.
But you can win more money overall online. You can have a higher hourly rate. You can win more money on a daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly basis, and you can win more consistently.
The reason you can win more money online is because you play cash games or MTTs every day. You can play more than one table at a time. The more tables you can play at once, the more money you can expect to earn per hour or day.
This, of course, assumes you continue to play well.
Think about it another way. How many live tournaments can you play every year? Maybe one a week or every two weeks, assuming you can find enough tourneys to play. You’re going to bust most of these, and it’s possible to bust dozens of them before you win another.
When you play online poker in Illinois, you can play a dozen tournaments in a single day. You can get through a year’s worth of live tournaments in one or two weeks. So, don’t you think your chances of earning more money is better online?
Online Poker Software Makes Your Life Easier
One of the tough things about playing live, especially if your background is mostly online poker, is the lack of software. You have to do everything yourself.
- You have to remember everything that happens in a hand. Online, you can read a hand history or watch a hand through replay.
- You have to figure out how much each bet is. Online, you can display bet sizes on your screen.
- You have to figure out the pot size, too (and most dealers won’t tell you). Online, you have the pot size displayed on your screen.
- You have to do math in your head. Online, many poker rooms have odds calculators that will tell you the pot and card odds. And you can use a calculator.
- You have to be careful not to miss flush draws or made flushes in live games. Online, poker sites have four-color decks that make it easy to spot flushes.
- You might struggle to see the cards in the middle of the table when you play live. Online, many poker rooms have larger decks you can use.
There are more software features, but you get the point. Online poker software makes it easier to play poker and to play poker well.
Live poker rooms offer promotions, like leaderboards and bad beat jackpots. But online poker rooms will give you money for joining their site and making a deposit.
The most common promotion is the deposit bonus. The poker site will match a percentage of your deposit. For example, if you claim a 150% deposit bonus, the site will give you $1.50 for every $1 you deposit.
You won’t get it upfront. You’ll earn it by playing real money games on your own dime. You’ll get points for every hand or MTT you play. Earn enough points and you’ll unlock a chunk of your bonus.
If you’re a good player, a deposit bonus is as close to free money as it gets.
Play Online Poker in Illinois for Free
Another reason to play poker online is because most online poker rooms let you play for free. They give you play chips and several free money cash games and MTTs to choose from.
You won’t win real money playing these games. But you should consider playing them anyway, at least when you’re new. You can use them to learn new games, strategies, and more without risking your bankroll.
Some poker rooms also offer freeroll tournaments. These are free to enter and often have real money prize pools.
Most live poker venues don’t offer freeroll tournaments. Period.
This may or may not be a benefit depending on whether you play poker purely for fun or if your goal is to improve.
If it’s the latter, online poker is the way to go because it’s generally tougher than live games. For example, a $50 game online is going to be the same, if not tougher than a $500 game live.
Why?
Online poker has lowered the barrier to entry. You can get better results for a fraction of what it’ll cost you playing live. This has led to tougher and more sophisticated games, even at the micro stakes.
If you want to become a great poker player, and you want to do it as quickly as possible, you should play poker online.
Online Poker Rooms Have Robust MTT Schedules
Many live poker rooms offer big tourneys. But they usually offer them only once or twice per month, sometimes once per week.
For example, one Illinois poker room runs a $20k GTD tourney on the first Friday of every month. The rest of their weekly tourneys have a $10k guarantee.
This isn’t bad, but online poker rooms run tournaments this big, and bigger, far more often. Sometimes every day of the week. And all the Illinois poker sites we endorse have a Sunday MTT schedule too.
For example, one runs a $250,000 GTD Main Event every Sunday. They also run a $150,000 GTD MTT. And they many other MTTs that are smaller, with prize pools in the five- and six-figure range.
Then, there are the MTTs run throughout the week. Most of these have prize pools in the four and five figure ranges. These tourneys run multiple times per day.
Live poker doesn’t come anywhere close to this. If you like to play MTTs, you owe it to yourself to play poker online in IL.
The last benefit we want to share (but certainly not the last benefit online poker offers) is the option to play poker on your phone.
When you play live, you have no choice but to show up wherever the cardroom is. This can be hours away from your home. This is anything but convenient.
Online poker enables you to play from home, which is far more convenient. But you’re anchored to wherever your computer is. It’s not easy to lug it around, even if it’s a smaller laptop.
This is where mobile poker comes in. You can play all your favorite games from wherever you can get internet access. That includes your kitchen, in the car, or at the beach while you’re on vacation.
Mobile poker is convenient. It’s easy. And all the top Illinois poker sites endorse offer it in some capacity. So, if you’re ready to take advantage of this benefit, and all the benefits we’ve talked about so far, you’ll need an account with one top-rated online poker sites for IL.
Finding the Best Illinois Poker Sites
Okay, you’re ready to play online poker. Your next step is to choose a poker room to join. You can find one on your own, but this can take you several days, if not weeks, if you’re lucky.
It’s not just your time you’re spending, though. You’ll also spend a fair amount of money too, testing every promising poker site. That’s the only way to know if they have games and software you’ll like.
Doesn’t that sound time consuming and expensive? Fortunately, there’s a better option. Join one of the Illinois poker sites we recommend instead.
We review and test all the Illinois poker sites we endorse. Here are some of the things we look for.
- Whether the poker site has a license issued by a legitimate gambling authority
- If they have a positive reputation with other American online poker players
- That they have a variety of poker games, variants, and stakes
- If their software works well and that there are several features for you to use
- That they get enough traffic because, without it, games won’t run
- If their tournament schedule offers different MTTs, if they have any Sunday “majors,” and if there are MTTs with buy-ins suitable for all budgets
- That they have a mobile poker app or browser option and there are enough games and stakes on these platforms
- That the poker room accepts plenty of American-friendly banking options with reasonable limits and fees.
- If they have promotions that poker players can take advantage of
- Whether or not their rake is fair
We do all this legwork so that you don’t have to. You can easily get value from our efforts even if all you ever did was read our poker room reviews to decide where you should play.
But that’s a lot of work, too, between the reading and figuring out which room is best for you. So, what we recommend you do instead is simply choose a poker site from our list of recommendations. These recommendations are based on all our research and decades of experience playing online poker.
That’s why we can confidently say that these are the best Illinois poker sites you’ll find online.
Live and Online Real Money Poker in IL
We covered quite a bit of information in this guide.
- You learned about some of the downsides to playing poker live in Illinois, which boils down to a lack of cardrooms, variety, and convenience.
- We showed you a few of the benefits you’ll experience if you play poker online. This includes the ability to make more money, play poker for free, play lots of guaranteed MTTs, and more.
The bottom line is that there’s no doubt in our minds most players will be far happier and far better off playing poker online. You just can’t beat the variety, convenience, and promotions.
It’s not hard to get started either. It’s much easier than driving for 30 to 60+ minutes to play in person. All you need is an account with a top-rated poker site.
Online Poker Illinois News
That’s where we come in. We have a lot of experience in reviewing, rating, and recommending online poker sites. So, if you’re unsure of which poker site you want to join, we suggest you join one of the sites we endorse. These are sites that we play at ourselves, as well as recommend to friends and family.
Online Real Money Poker Illinois Casino
But don’t take our word for it. Join one of the best Illinois poker sites now and find out for yourself.