Australia sports betting company PointsBet announced today it received temporary permit to operate in Illinois. The sports book provider will be able to roll out retail and online sports betting in the state, once its partner, the Hawthorne Race Course (HRC) in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago, receives a master license from the gaming regulator, the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB).
Expanding Operations Across Multiple States
Illinois is the latest in a series of jurisdictions where the sports betting company is launching operations. Earlier in July, PointsBet agreed a deal with the provider of online wagering solutions company Betmakers, to kick-start a fixed-odds betting program on horse racing in New Jersey.
In January, in partnership with the Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, PointsBet officially entered Michigan, to provide online and mobile sports wagering and gaming, contingent upon obtaining the necessary regulatory licenses. Both parties signed an exclusive deal for 20 years initially, with an automatic renewal for 5 more years on the table unless one of them objects in a written form.
In March, the Indiana Gaming Commission granted PointsBet a mobile sports wagering license for the state, to make it the third state to feature PointsBet’s digital sports book and the first in partnership with Penn National Gaming.
“…Pointsbet and HRC have been working in tandem towards building a world-class, multi-faceted sports entertainment venue centrally located at the Hawthorne Racecourse, together with several off-track betting outlets throughout the Greater Chicago area.”
Official statement, PointsBet
PointsBet’s partner, Hawthorne Race Course (HRC) is the oldest sport venue in the state that features the traditional for America horseracing. Founded in 1891, the business that has been family-owned and operated for more than a century, offers traditional dirt racing and features the second longest homestretch in North America. HRC is the only racecourse in the country to offer both Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing, as well as the operator of the largest network of off-track betting parlours in the state.
PointsBet is ensuring presence in Illinois where the sports betting market is not facing the level of competition present in other states. Besides DraftKings which managed to find a work-around the 18 month delay indirectly imposed on it and FanDuel by state lawmakers when sports betting in Illinois was legalized, BetRivers.com is the other competitor, as it launched its mobile sports betting app, in partnership with Churchill Downs Incorporated and powered by Rush Street Interactive in June.
The state of Illinois represents the potential of Pennsylvania in terms of population and competition in the markets is expected to further intensify as the IGB issued 6 casinos with master licenses.