Governor J.B. Pritzker has extended the online registration period for sports bettor which was due to end on Saturday, September 19. The period has been extended until October 17 instead.
Online Sports Betting Registration Still Open in Illinois
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has requested an extension for the period during which sports fans in the state can register to bet online at various sportsbooks in the state. The governor has issued an executive order allowing punters to register beyond Saturday, which was the original deadline for the registration process.
670 The Score’s Joe Orstrowski published a tweet on Friday notifying fans that Gov. Pritzker was mulling an extension. Gov. Pritzker coordinated his decision with the Secretary of State’s office and the deadline has now been set for October 17 as reported by Orstrowski.
To clarify, the order simply allows sports fans to register online as opposed to go and visit sportsbooks in person, which is the established process. Due to the COVID-19, however, the state and governor thought it appropriate to introduce remote registration as a way to prevent the further spreading of the virus.
However, there is another important detail about the order’s expiry date. Once the extraordinary registration period is over, people who have been registering remotely from March onward and specifically at FanDuel Sportsbook and DraftKings would need to visit these two operator’s land-based operators at Par-A-Dice Casino in Peoria and Casino Queen in East St. Louis respectively and register in person.
Illinois’ Sports Betting Handle Comes from Online Exclusively
Gov. Pritzker introduced the order on Friday along with a ream of other executive orders targeting the ongoing development of the pandemic. The governor was certainly mindful of the way sports betting revenue was generated in July.
According to the Illinois Gaming Board, the authority tasked with regulating the segment, estimated $47.7 million of July’s revenue was generated online. In comparison, the total revenue for July was $51.4 million.
The extension will last through mid-October, but Gov. Pritzker may yet find another reason to extend it, as it has been working out so far. Illinois runs five sportsbooks right now, giving the state a rather wholesome coverage of the entire sports betting demographic on the domestic market.
Meanwhile, a lot has happened on the Illinois sports betting market. William Hill and PointsBet both entered in the state’s sports betting market with mobile app solutions earlier in September. At the beginning of September, Kindred announced that it continued to expand in key markets, one of which was Illinois. All of this comes amid more anti-COVID measures which were rolled out in August.