Illinois lawmakers took another swing at legalizing online casinos this year, and once again the effort came up short. The state has been chasing this for years now, and the latest attempt followed a familiar script from start to finish. It's a minor setback for online Illinois casinos, as the legalization process continues to stall.
Where The Push Started
State Rep. Edgar Gonzalez Jr. filed House Bill 4797, known as the Internet Gaming Act, back on February 2. This wasn't his first try. Gonzalez ran nearly the same bill in 2025 under a different number, and it stalled in committee without ever reaching the House floor.
The 2026 version kept almost everything intact. Existing casinos and racetracks would each be allowed to run up to three online skins, creating as many as 51 platforms across the state. Operators would pay a 25 percent tax on revenue, along with a $250,000 license fee. Gonzalez also tacked on a workforce protection clause, blocking any operator that cut its staff by 25 percent or more since February 2020 from getting a license. That piece was aimed squarely at labor concerns that helped sink the bill a year earlier.
Supporters lined up quickly, as there is plenty of interest in Illinois betting. The Sports Betting Alliance, which counts DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, Fanatics and bet365 among its members, backed the bill as a way to formalize what many already believe is happening through unregulated Illinois Betting Apps and offshore Illinois Online Casinos operating outside state oversight.
Where Things Stand Now
The bill moved through the usual early steps. It got its first reading on February 6, landed in the Rules Committee, and was then assigned to the House Gaming Committee on March 4. That's about as far as it went.
March 27 was the deadline for bills to clear a substantive committee to stay alive for the spring session. HB 4797 was missed and sent right back to Rules under Rule 19(a), which is the legislature's way of shelving something without officially killing it.
The spring session wrapped on June 1, and the only gambling-related bill to pass both chambers was Senate Bill 3019. That measure addressed extending operations at the temporary Chicago and Waukegan casinos, along with some tweaks to sports betting and prediction markets. Online casinos were nowhere in it.
As of July 1, real-money online casino gaming remains illegal in Illinois. Opposition from the video gaming terminal industry and land-based casino operators, including Penn Entertainment, continued to carry weight with lawmakers worried about cannibalizing existing revenue.
Gonzalez has now tried this four times since 2021 using largely the same framework each time. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has said publicly that he expects the state to legalize online casinos eventually. Just don't expect it in 2026.
