As Covid mitigation guidelines continue to ease, allowing for casinos to resume operations, Hawthorne Race Course and PointsBet have been approved by the Illinois Gaming Board to open the State's first off-track and non-casino sportsbook beginning on Wednesday, January 27th. The newly remodeled Club Hawthorne in suburban Crestwood is part of Hawthorne's off-tracking betting (OTB) network, and is the first of three such OTB locations that will open under Illinois' sports betting law.