The sports betting industry in Illinois is booming, and with Circa Sports soon to enter the fray, many operators are vying for customers. But not all sportsbooks in the country’s third largest sports wagering market are created equal, especially when it comes to customer support.
We wanted to put their live chat services to the test.
As avid sports bettors ourselves, we know the importance of timely and helpful customer service. When a last-minute injury changes the odds or a glitch prevents you from placing a bet, you want an operator that responds in a snap.
We picked a random weekday afternoon to contact the live chat agents of the major Illinois sportsbooks, armed with a list of questions any bettor might have. We made sure to time how long it took for an agent to respond and evaluated not just the speed but the quality and accuracy of the information they provided.
Some sportsbooks clearly have invested in top-notch customer service with knowledgeable agents and short wait times. Others seem to have treated live chat as an afterthought, with long delays and unhelpful responses.
Accordingly, we’ve ranked the Illinois sportsbooks based largely on our experience with their live chat support. Let’s see which ones cut above the fold.
What we cover
How We Ranked Illinois Sportsbooks’ Live Chat Services
To evaluate the live chat customer service of Illinois sportsbooks, our focus was squarely on the big three questions: how to pull out winnings, how to enable the desktop’s geo-location and the minimum deposit amount.
We timed how long it took for an agent to initially respond to our live chat request and the total length of our conversation. We noted any special requirements to access live chat support, as well.
Right off the bat, we must mention that your experience with live chat will likely differ depending on your specific issue and how busy the sportsbook’s agents are at the time. Customer support reps are crazy busy during major sporting events, such as the MLB postseason, NFL playoffs, or NBA finals.
We opted to contact the sportsbooks during relatively slow periods on weekdays to get a sense of their standard level of service. Even so, this evaluation provides a useful overview of what you can expect from each Illinois sportsbook’s live chat support during normal conditions.
The ranking below should give bettors a decent sense of how IL sportsbooks compare regarding agent knowledge, wait times, and overall quality of customer service.
1- Caesars Sportsbook: Best overall live chat service
If you’re after a royal treatment from the player support agents, look no further than Caesars Sportsbook in Illinois. The support hits the trifecta — a helpful bot, a snappy live customer rep, and concise yet fun responses.
With generative AI kicking up a storm right now, it’s no surprise that most online sportsbooks require customers to interact with a chatbot before speaking to a real-live agent. Caesars Sportsbook has a super-helpful bot coyly named Betty. She answered the minimum deposit question right out of the gate. No other chatbot knocked this part right out of the park quite like Betty.
The geo-location question was a bit tricky for Betty, who was glad to direct us to a live customer rep. The agent got back to us in 20 seconds, locked and loaded with download links to the necessary geo-plugin.
Our customer support journey was done and dusted in a little shy of 4 minutes and the rep’s “Have a royal day!” adieu was more than enough to leave a wide grin on our faces.
2- DraftKings Sportsbook
For a sportsbook with an almost nationwide bad rap, DraftKings Illinois customer support had a lovely surprise for us. Once we powered through the chatbot, the live rep took just 23 seconds to respond. However, things took a turn from there, as the agent made us wait another two or so minutes to verify the wagering account details.
The upside is that we didn’t have to re-enter any personal details going forward. That’s a nice trade-off, plus the minimum deposit amount question was answered in a jiffy.
The geo-location query was equally snappy for the customer service rep. Unlike Caesar’s folks, DraftKings’ agents walked us through the whole process of getting the geo-location plugin downloaded and installed.
3- PointsBet
PointsBet Illinois Sportsbook is one of the few online sports betting sites that doesn’t require jumping through hoops to access their live chat service. You don’t have to submit personal details to chat with an agent—they’ll pull up your account info automatically.
When we hit the live chat button, a customer rep responded in next to no time. In under 20 seconds, we were chatting with a helpful and friendly agent who provided us with the minimum deposit required only a few seconds after connecting.
However, the geolocation support left something to be desired. It took three minutes to get a response, and even then, the agent only suggested we try making a wager to activate an error message with the download link for the geo-location plugin.
4- Barstool Sportsbook
If you asked us to guess which Illinois sportsbook has the speediest live support service, our money would have been farthest from Barstool. But the newbie sportsbook stumped us.
It took the live rep only 40 seconds to respond after we provided the email address, name, and state. What’s more, we had all the necessary answers in under 3 minutes total.
Barstool’s live chat support experience was one of the smoothest we have witnessed in the Land of Lincoln.
5- FanDuel
FanDuel has always struggled in the shadows of its long-time archrival DraftKings, and the same can be said of its live chat service. The operator falls almost at the back of the pack, largely due to the multiple hoops you must go through to get to the agent.
As with its competition, FanDuel has its gatekeeper chatbot (aka FanDuel Coach). Unlike Caesars’ Betty who answered our minimum deposit amount question right away, Coach couldn’t muscle up his team at first asking. We had to provide all necessary personal details and deal with lengthy email verification before proceeding.
Once you’re done with Coach, it takes more than 60 seconds for an agent to respond. Thankfully, that’s when FanDuel’s customer reps bring out their A-game. Their no-frills responses are short, sweet, and downright helpful. Still, the entire ordeal lasted more than 5 minutes, the worst of the bunch!
Parting Shot
Our experience shows that while most Illinois sportsbooks offer reasonably helpful live chat support, there is significant variation in wait times, ease of access, and agent knowledge. Bettors looking for the best overall live chat experience should consider Caesars Sportsbook or DraftKings.
