State residents hoping to place a wager on the Bears game will be disappointed to hear that betting on sports in Illinois this year is almost certainly not possible. In fact, legal sports bets probably won’t be available until the Super Bowl in February. This according to state Rep. Mike Zalewski, one of the architects of the state gambling expansion signed last week.

In the meantime, brick-and-mortar gambling establishments will be partnering up with sports wagering companies to design in-house sports books, Zalewski said. Professional teams with 17,000-plus capacity stadiums — all the city’s major teams — will be eligible to set up books too.

The state’s first such partnership was announced Monday — just three days after the expansion became law — between Hawthorne Race Course and the Australian bookmaker PointsBet, who say they’ll “work in tandem to build a world-class, multi-faceted sports entertainment venue” at the Stickney track in addition to sports betting at three of their 11 off-track sites.

You can read more about betting on sports in Illinois at the Chicago Sun Times