Is Bovada legal in Illinois? What state law says (2026)

ByCrown Wagers Editorial Team Updated Bovada Help

No. Illinois allows online sports betting only through sportsbooks licensed by the Illinois Gaming Board, and Bovada isn’t one of them. The Board sent Bovada cease-and-desist letters in February 2025 and February 2026, but as of September 29, 2026, Bovada still accepted players from Illinois.

Legal sportsbooks in Illinois

Under the Sports Wagering Act of 2019, retail sportsbooks opened in March 2020, and BetRivers took the state’s first legal online bets that June. The Gaming Board regulates them, and you must be 21 or older and physically in Illinois to bet.

The Board’s list of authorized online sportsbooks has 10 names: bet365, BetMGM, BetRivers, Caesars Sportsbook, Circa Sports, DraftKings, Fanatics, FanDuel, Hard Rock Bet and theScore Bet. Bovada isn’t on it.

The per-bet tax

Since July 1, 2025, Illinois has taxed every online bet: 25 cents each on an operator’s first 20 million bets of the year, then 50 cents. Bets placed in person aren’t taxed this way.

The books pay it, and all 10 passed some of it on. By September 2025, five had added fees of 25 or 50 cents a bet, some only on smaller bets, and five had set or raised minimum bets. FanDuel waived its fee for part of 2026, so check current terms before you bet.

The Gaming Board’s letters to Bovada

On February 3, 2025, the Gaming Board sent a cease-and-desist letter to Harp Media B.V., the Curaçao company that state regulators name as Bovada’s operator. It said Bovada was taking sports bets in Illinois without a license and told it to “cease and desist this illegal activity,” warning of “civil or criminal penalties.”

It was one of 11 such letters that month, sent with Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office.

On February 4, 2026, the Board wrote again, to “JuicyPopSlots (Bovada)” at a P.O. box in Costa Rica, with service@bovada.lv among the addresses. It said the site offered Illinois users “slots, table games, and sports wagering” and demanded that it “block Illinois residents from accessing your services or discontinue offering cash and crypto currency.” It was one of more than 60 letters sent to online casino and sweepstakes sites.

A cease-and-desist letter is a demand that carries no fine by itself, and we found no Illinois lawsuit or penalty against Bovada as of September 2026. Bovada hasn’t complied: Illinois wasn’t on its restricted list on September 29, 2026, though Bovada left Michigan and Massachusetts within weeks of their letters. Our page on where Bovada is available tracks the list.

What Illinois law says about betting with Bovada

Under section 28-1 of the Illinois Criminal Code, you commit gambling if you knowingly play “a game of chance or skill for money” or make “a wager upon the result of any game, contest, or any political nomination, appointment or election.”

Participants in certain activities “shall not be convicted of gambling,” including “Sports wagering when conducted in accordance with the Sports Wagering Act.” That covers bets with licensed books. Bovada has no license under that Act.

ConductLawGrade and maximum penalty
Betting on a game or playing casino games for money720 ILCS 5/28-1(a)(1) and (a)(2)Class A misdemeanor: less than a year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500
Running an internet gambling site720 ILCS 5/28-1(a)(12)Class A misdemeanor; a repeat conviction is a Class 4 felony
Illinois Compiled Statutes, 720 ILCS 5/28-1 and 730 ILCS 5/5-4.5-55, as of September 2026.

Those are the maximums. The state’s public actions so far, including both letters to Bovada, have been aimed at operators.

A separate civil law, section 28-8, lets someone who loses $50 or more gambling sue the winner to recover it. If the loser doesn’t sue within six months, anyone else can, for three times the loss.

Suits under that law in 2025 went after sweepstakes casino sites. We found no Illinois case against Bovada, though a Kentucky class action under a similar law names Harp Media B.V. This isn’t legal advice.

What else is legal in Illinois

  • Casinos and video gaming terminals, in person, regulated by the Gaming Board.
  • The Illinois Lottery, for players 18 and older, including online play.
  • Fantasy contests, for players 21 and older.

Online casinos aren’t on the list, and the Gaming Board treats them as illegal.

Fantasy and pick’em apps

Illinois has argued over daily fantasy sports since a 2015 attorney general’s opinion called paid contests illegal gambling. In 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that head-to-head contests are “predominately skill based” and not gambling.

In February 2025, the Gaming Board told PrizePicks that its single-player contests against the house were illegal gambling, and PrizePicks agreed to offer only peer-to-peer contests in Illinois.

Senate Bill 3019, passed in 2026, put fantasy contests under the Gaming Board from July 1, 2026. Players must be 21, and contests need at least two players, though pick’em formats are allowed. Operators need a license and pay a 15% tax.

Prediction markets

Prediction markets such as Kalshi, which are regulated by the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, offer contracts on game results. The Gaming Board sent cease-and-desist letters to Kalshi, Crypto.com and Robinhood in April 2025 and to Polymarket in January 2026.

The CFTC sued Illinois in April 2026, saying only it can regulate these markets. SB 3019 then limited sports contracts to licensed sportsbook operators from July 1, 2026, and Kalshi sued to block that. Both cases were still in court in September 2026, and some apps offered sports contracts in Illinois while others didn’t.

Why a licensed book is the safer choice

A licensed book has to confirm you’re 21 and in Illinois, and it can’t take bets from people on the Gaming Board’s self-exclusion list. It answers to the Board, which files disciplinary complaints against sportsbooks and posts them online.

Attorney General Raoul’s advice is to check the Board’s licensee list first: “Using an unlicensed betting service puts your personal information and your money at risk.”

Bovada says it’s licensed by the Union of the Comoros, and no US state licenses it. If a withdrawal stalls, your only escalation is Bovada’s own dispute process. The trade-off is the per-bet fees and minimums above. Our guide to choosing an online sportsbook covers what else to compare.

Taxes on your winnings

Gambling winnings are taxable. The IRS says to report all of them, including winnings that don’t come with a Form W-2G, and you can deduct losses only if you itemize, up to the amount you won. Bovada says it doesn’t report winnings to tax authorities.

Illinois taxes residents’ gambling winnings at its flat 4.95% income tax rate and doesn’t allow a deduction for gambling losses.

The risks of using Bovada from Illinois

  • Under section 28-1, betting with an unlicensed site is gambling, a Class A misdemeanor, though enforcement so far has targeted operators.
  • The Gaming Board has twice told Bovada to stop serving Illinois. If Bovada blocks the state, it tells players there to contact customer service about a crypto withdrawal.
  • No Illinois agency oversees Bovada. The attorney general warns that if an offshore site won’t let you withdraw, “there may be little recourse to consumers.”
  • Bovada can close accounts “for any reason, at any time in our sole discretion.” If Illinois is ever blocked, don’t try to hide your location: Bovada treats VPN or proxy use as fraud, which can cost you your balance. See our VPN guide.

Our Bovada review covers its fees, bonuses and payouts, and where Bovada is located explains who runs it.

Only bet what you’ve set aside to lose. If gambling has stopped being fun, call or text 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738) for free, confidential help, 24/7, or chat online with the National Problem Gambling Helpline.

Sources

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