--- description: Gov. Bruce Rauner reversed a 1989 law against drink specials on Wednesday title: Happy Hour Is Legal Again in Illinois image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [States](/tag/states/) ## States Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Happy Hour Is Legal Again in Illinois  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 15, 2015 10:44 PM CUT  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 15, 2015 10:44 PM CUT Happy hour is coming back to Illinois. Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a bill Wednesday that nullified a ban on happy hour drink specials in the state, which had been in effect since 1989\. The ban was meant to combat alcohol-related car accidents. If you live in Illinois, you haven’t been able to grab a drink after work with buddies to blow off steam and snap up cheaper “happy hour” deals for more than 25 years. But discounts will now be allowed for up to four hours a day and up to 15 hours a week, so long as specials end before 10 p.m. “Volume” drink specials, like getting two for the price of one, will remain banned. Reactions were mixed: While customers were jubilant, business owners opposed the bill. Some activists fear happy hour drink specials will lead to more alcohol related accidents. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3959473/happy-hour-illinois/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3959473/happy-hour-illinois/"},"headline":"Happy Hour Is Legal Again in Illinois","datePublished":"2015-07-15T22:44:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:17:14.538Z","description":"A ban is overturned after more than 25 years","url":"https://time.com/3959473/happy-hour-illinois/","keywords":["States","Food & Drink","Alcohol","Public Health","Illinois"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/states/","name":"States"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3959473/happy-hour-illinois/","name":"Happy Hour Is Legal Again in Illinois"}}]}] ```