The Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, Illinois, plans on expanding its property to incorporate, among other things, a sportsbook. This information was conveyed to the industry by the chief executive officer of Churchill Downs, Bill Carstanjen, whose company acquired 61% of the casino earlier this year. The CEO also said that the casino plans to pursue one of the six available casino licenses that have been opened up under Illinois’ gambling expansion bill. He also said that the casino would be adding 800 new slot machines – from 1,200 gaming positions to 2,000.
Speaking about plans to roll out a sportsbook to bring sports betting to the property, the CEO said: “Rivers will also pay the $10 million licensing fee in early 2020 to obtain an Illinois sports wagering license and will construct a sportsbook within its existing footprint,” Carstanjen said. “All of this is very, very exciting.”
Legal and regulated sports betting is brand new in Illinois. For the first 18 months of the market, residents need to register with a casino in order to place a wager on sport. Needless to say, the bets have to be placed within state borders. Once they have registered with the casino once, players can do their betting either at the casino or online via their mobile phones on an app.