Pennsylvania residents have long dreamt about online gambling, when finally in 2017 the PA Senate approved a bill signed by Governor Tom Wolf to introduce interstate online casinos, online poker, daily fantasy sports (DFS) and other types of online gaming.
The types of gambling in Pennsylvania available today include, online poker, online casino games and slots, daily fantasy sports (DFS), video gambling terminals (VGTs), online lottery sales and sports betting
Sports betting in Pennsylvania
The state of Pennsylvania made sports betting legal, pending a change in federal law, as a part of the excessive gambling expansion project approved in October 2017.
The law permits wagering on both professional and college sports events in person at a bricks-and-mortar Pennsylvania gambling vendor, while legal online sports betting mobile betting is coming soon. Bettors must be at least 21 years old to make a wager, like in most parts of the USA.
The sports betting vertical seems much clearer than the situation with online casinos – the first retail sportsbook opened in November 2018 and Pennsylvania ended the year of 2018 with three sportsbooks in total. Betting apps are still a novelty and we can see more and more sportsbooks offering mobile wagering options.
Online Sports Betting in Pennsylvania
Even though the exact dates for the launch of respective casinos in unknown, we can estimate the timeline for retail and online sportsbooks introduction in Pennsylvania below with most places set to launch in 2019.
| Casino | PGCB Approval Date | Live Sportsbook Launch | Online Sportsbook Launch |
| Hollywood Casino at Penn National | October 3 2018 | November 17 2018 | Q2 2019 |
| Parx Casino Sportsbook | October 3 2018 | Jan 10 2019 | LIVE (June 27 2019) |
| South Philadelphia Turf Club | October 3 2018 | Jan 17 2019 | N/A |
| BetRivers | October 31 2018 | Dec 15 2018 | LIVE (June 27 2019) |
| SugarHouse Sportsbook PA | October 31 2018 | Dec 15 2018 | LIVE (May 31 2019) |
| Harrah’s Philadelphia | October 31 2018 | Jan 24 2019 | Q2 2019 |
| Valley Forge Casino | December 19 2018 | March 2019 | Q2 109 |
| Presque Isle Downs | Pending | Q2 2019 | Q2 2019 |
| Valley Forge Turf Club | October 3 2018 | April 2019 | N/A |
Online Casinos in Pennsylvania
Once online casino companies will launch in Pennsylvania sometime in early 2019, players will no longer be limited to frequenting the local brick-and-mortar casinos. Online gambling including the iLottery, fantasy sports, poker will soon be able for users in a number of websites.
Already, ten land-based casinos have filed applications to offer slot machines and table games online, while nine of them have already been approved for interim permits:
| Casino | Online casino | Online poker | Partner | Estimated Launch |
| Harrah’s Philadelphia | Yes | Yes | 888/Scientific Games | Mid-2019 |
| Hollywood Casino | Yes | Yes | IGT | Mid-2019 |
| Mount Airy | Yes | Yes | PokerStars | Mid-2019 |
| Parx | Yes | Yes | GAN/Kambi | Mid-2019 |
| Presque Isle | Yes | No | SBTech | 2019 |
| Sands Bethlehem | Yes | Yes | TBD | Unknown |
| Stadium Casino | Yes | No | Unknown | Unknown |
| SugarHouse | Yes | Yes | Rush Street Interactive | Mid-2019 |
| Mohegan Sun Pocono | Yes | No | TBD/Scientific Games | 2019 |
| Valley Forge | Yes | Yes | IGT/GAN/GVC/PartyPoke | Mid-2019 |
MGM and Golden Nugget joined the list of applicants as the qualified gaming entities (QGE), the next step for both is to present their interactive license petitions.
