On Thursday, Rivers Casino in Des Plaines became the first gambling property in Illinois to offer legalized sports betting online. Rivers is one of the biggest casinos in the state.

Lucrative opportunities return

Richard Schwartz, the president of Rush Street Interactive said,

“We are excited to make history in bringing the first online sportsbook to sports fans in our home state just in time as American sports are coming back into action.”

Rush Street and Rivers are partners for the online sports betting initiative at the company.

Illinois recently adopted a massive gambling expansion law that enables prospective bettors to visit a sportsbook located within a casino, a stadium, or a horse racetrack to sign up for an online wagering account. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed an executive order two weeks ago which has temporarily removed the in-person registration license requirement due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The casinos in the state have remained shut throughout the pandemic and sports have remained canceled.

However, as sporting activities return soon, the state has to gear up for creating live online sports betting offerings for the users. The state expects betting to be a lucrative revenue opportunity. By some estimates, it could be earning $100 million a year.

Casinos will get a leg up on their online-only counterparts

Illinois casinos have been given a leg-up by the authorities before the online-only sportsbooks like DraftKings and FanDuel which will not be allowed in the state for at least 18 months. The state’s casinos will hence get to create a more dominating presence in the state. Rivers was one of the seven casinos that were given a sports betting license from the Illinois Gaming Board last week. These temporary licenses will allow the casinos to open their own online and mobile sports betting.

Rivers’ online sportsbook can be accessed at BetRivers.com. However, it would only be accessible to people who are at least 21 years old and are located physically within the state. The website also contains an app specifically designed for Illinois users which can provide them mobile betting functionality as well. The app is available only for Android users for now.