Today, Pennsylvania gambling gets a little Hollywood glitz and glamour. It isn’t from California, though; it is home-grown.
Hollywood Casino is officially the first PA online casino to launch in the state. Hollywood’s parent company, Penn National Gaming, partnered with IGT to roll out the state’s first gaming site to offer regulated slots and tables games.
Unfortunately, the big premiere was not without a couple of hiccups. Nonetheless, there is a live site with 40 slot titles to choose from, so this is a big step forward for the PA gambling market.
What HollywoodCasino.com offers
When a soft launch to begin at 11 a.m. EST, here is what Hollywood Online Casino had to offer as games:
- 40 different slot titles
- Game King video poker
- Baccarat
The slot titles do not currently offer any progressive slot jackpots. However, there are some very popular titles to choose from, like:
- Wolf Run
- Crown of Egypt
- Siberian Storm
- Wheel of Fortune: Triple Extreme Play
- Golden Goddess
- Cleopatra
- Da Vinci Diamonds
The video poker options are also robust, as players can choose from nine versions of the game.
What HollywoodCasino.com doesn’t offer
What is noticeably absent from this list are the most popular table games, such as blackjack, craps and roulette. There is no live dealer offering either, which is to be expected this early in the process. However, the lack of blackjack was a surprise, and likely a disappointment, for PA online casino players.
That being said, this does not mean these games will never show up. Rather, they are just not ready right now. As the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) approves titles, they will be added to the library.
How long that takes is not exactly clear, but consider blackjack as a good test case. In Pennsylvania, the rules for blackjack are different than other states. In fact, they are about as user-friendly as any market in the US. So, a blackjack game that works fine in a New Jersey online casino will need to be tinkered with in order to conform to PA rules. Then the PGCB has to approve each and every version that might be offered in Pennsylvania.
How to get started on HollywoodCasino.com
Initially, customers had trouble registering an account. However, after about 20 minutes of problems, registration started to work just fine. Here is the info you need to sign up for Hollywood Online Casino:
Once your account is set up, the next step is funding it. Here are the current deposit options for the site:
- VIP Preferred, an e-check company for gaming sites.
- PayNearMe
- Hollywood Play+ prepaid card
- Visa, Mastercard and Discover.
Hollywood offering $25 bonus just for signing up
If you want to try out the games on Hollywood’s online casino, the site is offering a $25 no-deposit bonus to new customers just for signing up. In order to get the Hollywood no deposit casino bonus in PA, simply register an account and the $25 will appear in your “Bonus Balance.”
There is a one-time playthrough requirement. Additionally, players must use all their bonus funds within 180 days.
Android app a go, but no Apple options
As expected, there is an online casino app Android users can download directly from the site, but no option for those on iPads and iPhones. The Android app does offer everything the desktop site does, including all 40 slot titles.
