Breaking: FanDuel Par-A-Dice Sportsbook To Launch In Illinois

FanDuel intends to provide the Illinois sports betting market through a partnership with Par-A-Dice Casino in East Peoria, according to information posted on the company’s website.

Business sources have linked FanDuel to Collinsville’s Fairmount Park Racetrack, which is quite surprising. However, given FanDuel’s track record, it isn’t surprising that Boyd Gaming, the parent company of Par-A-Dice, is involved.

Based on our current knowledge, here.

On their website, FanDuel Par-A-Dice Sportsbook is promoted.

The page clearly links the Boyd property and the FanDuel app, and the URL contains the term “hidden”. It’s probably not designed to be publicly accessible yet. The page gives guidance on how to create an account, which includes a step that requires going to East Peoria to personally register the account at the blackjack table. Additionally, the FanDuel Par-A-Dice Sportsbook logo is co-branded on the page. Since publication, the page has been redirected.

FanDuel was approached by Play Illinois for a comment, but an immediate response was not received.

Both FanDuel and Par-A-Dice hold sports gambling licenses. It’s just a little over three hours’ drive from East Peoria, where the latter is located, to Chicago. On the other hand, it takes about four and a half hours to drive from Chicago to Collinsville and East St. Louis, where DraftKings operates from Casino Queen. This is a significant detail given Illinois’ requirement for in-person registration.

If FanDuel had formed a partnership with Fairmount, it would have faced competition from DraftKings in the St. Louis business. This would have put FanDuel at an initial disadvantage, considering DraftKings has been operational in that area for several months.

Boyd Gaming and lifelong FanDuel partners

Boyd Gaming and FanDuel have been in a collaboration since 2018, opening four casinos in Indiana and Iowa. Boyd also runs the FanDuel Sportsbook at the Valley Forge Casino Resort in the Philadelphia region.

Boyd Gaming properties will be marketed by FanDuel Group through its current daily fantasy sports service and future interactive sports betting and gaming services. Concurrently, FanDuel’s products will be promoted to its customer base by Boyd Gaming, according to the press release at the time.

What initially sparked the Fairmount speculations? Particularly considering Boyd and FanDuel & rsquo, Flutter Entertainment’s parent company, have partnered in several other states?

Illinois’ relatively complex sports gambling laws prevented the two major daily fantasy sports organizations from entering the market concurrently with the primary Illinois casino firms.

The proposal suggests that buying a home in Illinois, like Fairmount, would be an alternative to operating sportsbooks in the state for 18 months. This could circumvent the requirement to maintain a website. However, the Boyd option became prominent once again after DraftKings found a successful workaround by renaming Casino Queen to “& ldquo” and then rebranding the company as DraftKeys. If FanDuel can add its name to the casino & rsquo’s branding, it should be able to adhere to state laws, just like DraftKings and Casino Queen did.

At present, Fairmount Park is in the process of applying for a sports betting passport. The application may get approved as early as the upcoming Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) meeting scheduled for September 17.

Illinois’s rivalry intensifying

Following BetRivers and DraftKings, FanDuel is likely the next online betting service to launch in Illinois. This will be the fifth financial option to penetrate the market. PointsBet, in partnership with Hawthorne Race Course, should also swiftly initiate its mobile platform. While William Hill & rsquo’s retail book is accessible, their mobile strategies remain undisclosed.

While East Peoria’s location may appear to be isolated, it’s worth noting that Peoria and North Peoria rank seventh and eighth in population size in Illinois. Additionally, Springfield, the sixth largest city, is only an hour away. Even though the trip from Chicago can be inconvenient, it is less intimidating than the journey to East St. Louis.