PA Online Gambling
Online casinos are live and legal in Pennsylvania. There are now 18 legal online casinos licensed by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. At PA online casinos like BetMGM, FanDuel and DraftKings, you can play online slots, live dealer and table games for real money.
There are also a number of number of PA online casinos where you play poker like PokerStars, WSOP,com and BetMGM.
If you want to get playing right now, there are plenty of great regulated gambling sites and legal online casino sites in PA you can get started on in a matter of minutes. Take a look at the best options available to Pennsylvania customers.
Best online gambling sites in Pennsylvania
Casino players have nearly twenty options when it comes to online gambling and there are now four online poker sites accepting PA players. These legal PA gambling sites are our top suggestions of where you should play:
Is online gambling legal in PA?
Yes, but only at licensed and regulated online casinos and online sportsbooks. On Oct. 26, 2017. Gov. Tom Wolf signed H 271 into law, enacting widespread gambling expansion that extends beyond just PA online casinos.
Here is a look at exactly what the law allows:
- Online poker
- Online casino games (table games and slots)
- Sports betting, both retail and online
- Online lottery
- Daily fantasy sports
- Tablet gaming in certain areas at authorized airports
- Video gambling terminals (VGTs) at qualified truck stops
- Mini-casinos
The law allowed the state to regulate and legalize these activities, but the law does not mean that every online casino site or sports betting app is suddenly legal in Pennsylvania. Only sites vetted, approved, and overseen by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) are legal.
All of the legal real-money gambling sites are very clearly tied to a land-based casino in the state. For example, FanDuel Sportsbook (and now, FanDuel Casino), works in tandem with Valley Forge.
Online casinos in Pennsylvania
Legal online casinos in Pennsylvania launched in 2019. The industry is now reaching maturity with over a dozen to choose from. The state awarded 10 casinos interactive gaming licenses initially. Live! and BetMGM were later additions that both now have iGaming offerings in PA. Golden Nugget Casino is another big-name brand expected to launch in PA soon.
Here are the top welcome bonus offers along with links to sign up.
| Rank | PA Casinos | Bonus Offer | Play Now! |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | BetMGM Casino | $25 Free + 100% up to $1,000 | Play Now! |
| 2. | FanDuel Casino | $1,000 Play it Again + $100 in Site Credits | Play Now! |
| 3. | Caesars Casino | $10 Free + 200% up to $200 on Deposit | Play Now! |
| 4. | DraftKings Casino | $60 Free + $25 free and a 100% Match up to $2,000 with First Deposit | Play now! |
| 5. | BetRivers Casino | 100% up to $250 on Deposit | Play Now! |
| 6. | Borgata Casino | $20 Free + 100% up to $1,000 deposit match | Play Now! |
| 7. | Unibet Casino | $10 Free + 100% up to $750 | Play Now! |
| 8. | Hollywood Casino | Get $10 Free + 100% first deposit match up to $750 | Play Now! |
PA online sportsbooks
Every casino in Pennsylvania, except for Lady Luck Nemacolin, applied for a $10 million sports betting license. There are now more than a dozen online sports betting apps operational in PA.
Here is a look at where each operator is in the process:
| Casino | Online Sportsbook | App? | Bonus | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DraftKings (The Meadows) | Live as of Nov. 2019 | Android and iOS | $50 Free | Play now! |
| BetMGM Sportsbook (Hollywood Morgantown) | Live as of Dec. 2020 | Android and iOS | $1,000 Risk Free | Play now! |
| FOX Bet (Mount Airy) | Live as of Sept. 2019 | Android and iOS | $50 Risk Free | Play now! |
| FanDuel Sportsbook PA (Valley Forge) | Live as of July 2019 | Android and iOS | $1,000 Risk Free | Play now! |
| Unibet (Mohegan Sun Pocono) | Live as of Nov. 2019 | Android and iOS via GeoGuard | $500 Risk Free | Play now! |
| BetRivers Online Sportsbook | Live as of June 2019 | Android and iOS via GeoGuard | $500 Deposit Bonus | Play now! |
| PlaySugarHouse Sportsbook PA | Live as of May 2019 | Android and iOS via GeoGuard | $500 Deposit Bonus | Play now! |
| Parx Casino Sportsbook | Live as of June 2019 | Android | ||
| BetAmerica (Presque Isle Downs) | Live as of Dec. 2019 | GeoGuard web access | ||
| Caesars Sportsbook (Harrah's Philadelphia) | Live as of March 2020 | Android, Desktop, iOS | ||
| Barstool Sportsbook (Penn National) | Live as of Sept. 2020 | Android and iOS | ||
| Betfred Sportsbook (Wind Creek) | Live as of Dec. 2020 | Android, iOS, and Desktop | ||
| Live! Hotel & Casino | TBA | TBA |
Real-money gambling apps in PA
Here is a look at when the state’s online casinos, sportsbooks, and poker site launched:
05/28/2019
06/24/2019
06/25/2019
07/15/2019
07/15/2019- 07/17/2019
07/25/2019
09/04/2019
11/04/2019
11/04/2019
11/12/2019
12/20/2019
What online casino options are in PA?
Pennsylvania online casinos started arriving on July 15, 2019.
Initially, the thought was that everyone would launch on or around this day, but only two, Parx Casino and Hollywood Casino, were ready. SugarHouse Casino rolled out PlaySugarHouse.com two days later.
Months later in early November, Stars Casino debuted alongside PokerStars PA online poker site. Unibet Casino followed a couple of weeks later. FanDuel Casino launched at the end of January, 2020, making PA the first state to house an online casino with FanDuel branding.
BetAmerica and BetRivers Casino joined the market during the week leading up to the Super Bowl, both launching on Jan. 30. Caesars launched on April 23. Before the end of 2020, Wind Creek, PlayLive! and BetMGM online casinos also launched in PA. Borgata joined in Feb. 2021.
Each of these online casinos offer growing libraries of games after most started out small. Things that are commonplace in New Jersey, like live dealer games, are now available in Pennsylvania and a number of online casinos offer them.
The online gambling industry in PA is now chugging along at full steam, despite lagging behind the offerings of neighboring New Jersey. Why the slow start in PA?
The short answer is the Wire Act. Ever since the Department of Justice released a new, much stricter, interpretation of the Wire Act in January 2019, Pennsylvania regulators took an extremely conservative approach to online gambling. Part of that approach includes having every operator and every casino game provider stand up separate servers in Pennsylvania. Because operators and game providers planned on sharing New Jersey servers with their PA products, the change in regulations caused delays.
But now that most operators are live and competition is strong, the number of game offerings is catching up fast in PA.
What PA sports betting sites are live and legal?
There are 14 online sportsbooks that are live and legal in Pennsylvania. Some of the best and most popular sports betting apps are FanDuel, DraftKings, and BetMGM.
At PA online sportsbooks, you can safely and securely fund your account and bet on major and most college sports.
Online poker in PA
The first PA poker site, PokerStars PA, went live in November 2019, over two years after the law legalizing and regulating it passed. Another six casinos have obtained licenses to offer online poker, but it took a while for any other site to come online.
In 2021, three more sites launched in quick succession: BetMGM Poker, Borgata Poker and WSOP.com PA. The WSOP online poker site comes via a partnership with Harrah’s Philadelphia. All three of these sites are operational in New Jersey. WSOP.com is also available in Nevada and Delaware.
Before you get too excited about the prospect of playing online poker with players in New Jersey, Delaware, and Nevada, which share a compacting agreement, be advised that Pennsylvania has yet to join the MSIGA or Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement.
Compacting with other states is possible in the law and PGCB regulations, but uncertainty around interpretation of the Wire Act has caused hesitation in PA in the past. However, a court ruling against a 2018 DOJ Wire Act Opinion in January 2021 should at least open up the possibility.
