Two of the casinos are closer to the center of the state, and three more casinos closer to southern Illinois. There are five casinos near the popular metropolitan city of Chicago, Illinois. Riverboat casinos began operating in Illinois in late 1991, with the launching of the first boat: The Alton Belle. Illinois was the second state to legalize river-boat gambling. Visit our Illinois casinos map page to see a detailed map showing all casinos in that state. Want to See a Map of all casinos in Illinois? Click on a casino name to see a page of detailed information about that particular casino. Shown below is a list of all casinos in Illinois.

In June 2019 a gambling expansion bill was passed that allowed all casinos to move inland, plus it allowed for six new land-based casinos. They all remained docked and do not set sail. All other riverboat casinos in Illinois are either on actual riverboats or docked barges. These land-based casinos all qualified as being riverboats because they were built over a shallow pit that is filled with a few inches of water. Later, some were actually land-based, such as the Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, Jumer’s in Rock Island, and the Casino Queen in East.

Originally, all casinos in Illinois were on riverboats.

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