The Illinois sports betting market is vast. Perhaps too vast because there's an abundance of Illinois sports betting apps available to in-state residents and visitors. But that's why this guide to Illinois gambling apps exists in the first place — to help you navigate the tricky waters. We're here to assist you every step of the way so stick with us as we explain Illinois betting apps in-depth!

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Best 5 Sports Betting Apps For Illinois

First things first, what's the best betting app in Illinois? We think we know after reviewing dozens upon dozens of 'em. When the dust settled — and we trialed all these Illinois sports betting app — these five bookmakers stood out the most, for all the good reasons:

1. Bovada

We begin with the Bovada betting app. Often considered the king of online sportsbooks, this is a trusted name. In fact, they've been around longer than names like DraftKings or FanDuel, having been founded in 2011.

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Bovada offers a no-frills betting experience on mobile, and we mean that in a good way. Some apps muddle their experience by introducing gimmicks that take away from the actual sports betting. Bovada is not one of those sportsbooks.

For starters, you do not need to download an actual app for Bovada. Why waste valuable space on your phone when you can just access Bovada from your phone's web browser? That's all it takes to start betting on the app.

Elsewhere, Bovada’s betting markets will keep mobile Illinois bettors on their toes and having fun for a long time. They frequently update their futures odds and are constantly adding new games on this NFL betting site and other major leagues. They even have markets for minor, obscure sports! Just about everything you need is probably available on the Bovada sportsbook.

App Pros & Cons

  • Trustworthy brand
  • Simple mobile-betting experience
  • Bonuses pay out cheap
  • App could use a visual makeover

Final verdict: 9.5/10

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2. BetUS

The BetUS app is another keeper in the Illinois sports betting landscape. This is for one major reason: lucrative bonuses. At BetUS, players have $3125 welcome bonuses or $6000 referral bonuses at their fingertips whenever and wherever.

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The app itself also works like a charm. Take it from us, who've also used BetUS on a laptop. The experience between the two is flawless. BetUS will automatically optimize its website for mobile bettors in Illinois no matter what device you're using. This is clutch for on-the-go betting.

 

The deposit process is extremely smooth on the BetUS app too. Deposits will unlock most of the bonuses we mentioned before too. At BetUS, they accept a wide variety of deposit methods right on your phone:

  • Cryptocurrency
  • Cash Transfer
  • Credit Card
  • Bank Wire

All these qualities make the BetUS app an extremely well-rounded experience for Illinois bettors. Think of it as a jack-of-all-trades platform to get your fix of sports betting in one spot!

App Pros & Cons

  • Huge bonuses
  • Many betting options
  • Steep rollover requirements on offers
  • 7-day expiration period on free play

Final verdict: 9.5/10

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3. BetOnline

The BetOnline app has one massive differentiator: its deep sportsbook. Look, all five apps we’ve listed here have great sportsbooks, but BetOnline might have the most bets inside of it out of all of them. That’s a biggie because the whole point of apps is betting online anyway.

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Just about every major sport and league is there for the taking on BetOnline. This covers the globe too. Better yet, these sports and leagues have various bet types available at BetOnline, from props to futures and everything in between. It’s a bit of an all-you-can-eat buffet, but for bets.

But here’s the thing: all these bets are well-organized inside the BetOnline app. That’s because everything is neatly categorized by sport, league, or bet type. So say you’re betting Champions League futures, you know exactly where to find that wager on BetOnline. It’s all so hassle-free.

Ultimately, these two features are what make BetOnline one of Illinois' best sports betting app. You have an intuitive user experience and a well-stocked sportsbook in one spot. Click the link below to see this for yourself!

App Pros & Cons

  • Well-designed app
  • Deep sportsbook
  • Bonuses and contests lack creativity

Final verdict: 9.4/10

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4. XBet

Few apps have nailed the mobile betting experience quite like XBet. This makes them an ideal app for Illinois bettors who absolutely need to bet on the go — whether that be at work, school, in the car, at the bar, and so on.

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Most of all, the app is just blazing fast. Load times are above most other apps we’ve tried out — and this goes whether using the home Wi-Fi connection or cellular data while on the move. We experienced the XBet with both and almost never ran into any issues.

 

This speed is really felt when betting live. It’s this in-play feature where the XBet app shines the most. Take a fast-paced sport like the NBA. In-play odds change after every basket and the XBet app did a phenomenal job at updating its odds on the spot. There might be a lag on other apps, but one isn’t noticeable when trying out XBet.

It really does feel that XBet’s app is more on the cutting edge than its competitors. This is an excellent quality to have now because mobile betting is only going to continue to get popular. Wherever the online-betting industry pivots to next, we’re confident that XBet will either be first movers or early adopters into the “next thing.” In other words, they’ll remain ahead of the curve for its user base of bettors.

App Pros & Cons

  • Slick app design
  • Top-notch live betting system
  • Needs more casino games

Final verdict: 9.3/10

5. MyBookie

Last but not least, the MyBookie app is another killer in the Illinois market. A lot of the great features we've mentioned about the apps before this are also readily available inside MyBookie.

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There's a real seamlessness when using MyBookie on a computer versus on your phone. Look, MyBookie on the desktop is already a great site, and we think it only improves as it moves onto the mobile platform. It is incredibly easy to use and navigate. We'd venture to guess even a first-time bettor could pick up the MyBookie app right away — it's that easy.

Getting set up on MyBookie takes all of a few minutes and thumbs on your phone. Just open the browser on your mobile device, whether it is a smartphone or tablet, and go to MyBookie. Here again, no download is necessary to bet on the app.

Then you create your username and password, make your first deposit, and start playing. You will have no trouble going through this process with MyBooie as their mobile design is excellent. Click the link below to get started!

App Pros & Cons

  • VIP rewards program
  • Seamless mobile-betting experience
  • App looks dated

Final verdict: 9.1/10

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Legal Status Of Sports Betting Apps In Illinois

Illinois has legalized sports betting across the state. In June of 2019, Governor Pritzker signed the legalization of sports betting apps into law. Since then, the state has brought in millions of revenue, helping to shore up state coffers in the tumultuous months and years thereafter.

You can safely bet on a number of sports betting apps in Illinois. Mobile betting is huge in the state. With so much distance between population centers, it makes sense that there are so many mobile Illinois bettors.

Online betting actually went live almost a full year later. On June 18, 2021, Rivers Casino went live, making online and mobile betting in Illinois an official reality. A bunch of online apps have followed in the years since. In other words, it's all free reign inside Illinois these days.

Which Illinois Betting App Is The Best?

We don’t want to call a single app “the best”, hence why we offered up five different recommendations. That’s because any one of those apps could qualify as that, depending on what you’re into.

See, every bettor has different needs and wants. Say you’re most interested in bonuses, welp, BetUS is probably your personal best app. But if your priority is live betting, then XBet might fit the bill better. The point here is to decide what matters most to you, then pick the app that best does that. Suddenly, you’ve found your personal best choice.

Illinois Sports Betting History

The first official bets in Illinois go way back to when gambling started being regulated in the state. Horse racing was one of the earliest legal ways to gamble, thanks to the Illinois Horse Racing Act of 1927, which allowed betting at racetracks. This type of betting, called pari-mutuel betting, pools everyone’s wagers and splits the winnings based on odds after the house takes its cut.

Of course, people were probably making informal bets long before that, but those weren’t officially recorded. So, if we’re talking about the first legal and documented bets in Illinois, it likely happened after the horse racing law was passed in 1927.

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The Truth About Illinois Betting Apps

The truth is that when we talk about sports betting apps in Illinois, we are normally referring to the mobile version of their websites. There is no need to download anything or visit a specific mobile site. These sites automatically adapt to the needs of mobile users. One exception is the BetOnline poker app.

This is actually a great option for mobile bettors. You can save the shortcut to the homepage on your home screen and it has all the convenience of an app without the hassle of having to free up storage.

iOS and Android

The Apple App Store and the Google Play Store have lots of regulation on gamblings apps in their stores. These include many geographic restrictions based on the suer location.

For this reason, many sports betting sites skip the app process altogether. The mobile betting sites here will work great on either iOS or Android systems. In fact, they adapt to different screen sizes with a problem as well.

Why Are BetMGM, Ceasars, FanDuel Betting Apps Not On Our List?

We have nothing against those big-name sportsbook apps like BetMGM and DraftKings. They’re good apps, but we’d stop short of calling them great apps. They certainly feel a cut below the offshore betting apps we’ve mentioned on this page.

We prefer offshore apps to licensed ones because they’re way more loose. For instance, offshore apps have more betting markets. Things like politics can’t be wagered on licensed apps. Moreover, crypto as a payment is only available on offshore apps, not licensed ones. These are only a few examples, but there are more. Offshore apps just don’t have as many handcuffs on their bettors as those big-name sportsbooks do, and that matters.

Sports Betting Apps In Other States

Illinois isn't the only state where we've done these in-depth betting guides for. No, no, we've done them for every other one too. Here is a quick directory of 'em for your convenience: