PA Online Gambling
The PA online gambling market is now firing on all cylinders. Even online poker is up and running, with a huge turnout on the first day of testing.
You have multiple online casinos and PA sports betting sites to choose from, with even more on the way.
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 a handful of options when it comes to online gambling and there is only one poker site accepting PA players. These legal PA gambling sites are our top suggestions of where you should play:
Is online gambling legal in PA?
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 authorizes:
- 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 and BetRivers and SugarHouse are brands under the two Rivers Casinos in the state.
Online casinos in Pennsylvania
Legal online casinos in Pennsylvania launched in 2019. After starting with three sites, the industry is now growing at a faster clip. The state awarded 10 casinos interactive gaming licenses. Additionally, the PGCB is currently considering allowing MGM Resorts and Golden Nugget Casino to operate in PA.
This is the latest info on all of these online casino projects:
| Rank | PA Casinos | Bonus Offer | Progressive | Slots | Play Now! |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | FanDuel Casino | $200 Risk-Free | N/A | 25+ | Play Now! |
| 2. | Unibet Casino | $10 Free + 100% up to $500 | Jackpot Shores + Divine Fortune | 75+ | Play Now! |
| 3. | Fox Bet Casino | 100% up to $1500 | N/A | 12+ | Play Now! |
| 4. | DraftKings Casino | $35 Free + 20% up to $500 + $200 Risk-Free | N/A | 25+ | Play now! |
| 5. | BetRivers Casino | 100% up to $250 | Divine Fortune | 50+ | Play Now! |
| 6. | Sugarhouse Casino | 100% up to $250 | Divine Fortune | 70+ | Play Now! |
| 7. | Hollywood Casino | $25 Free + 100% up to $500 | Divine Fortune | 80+ | Play Now! |
| 8. | PokerStars Casino | 100% up to $1500 | N/A | 25+ | Play Now! |
PA sports bettings sites
Caesars became the ninth online sportsbook in the state in March, 2020. Every casino in Pennsylvania, save for Lady Luck Nemacolin, has applied for a $10 million sports betting license.
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 | $25 free | Play now! |
| FOX Bet (Mount Airy) | Live as of Sept. 2019 | Android and iOS | $20 free | Play now! |
| FanDuel Sportsbook PA (Valley Forge) | Live as of July 2019 | Android and iOS | $500 | Play now! |
| Unibet (Mohegan Sun Pocono) | Live as of Nov. 2019 | Android and iOS via GeoGuard | $20 free | Play now! |
| PlaySugarHouse Sportsbook PA | Live as of May 2019 | Android and iOS via GeoGuard | $250 | Play now! |
| BetRivers Online Sportsbook | Live as of June 2019 | Android and iOS via GeoGuard | $250 | 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 to come | ||
| Hollywood Casino at Penn National | 2020 | Yes | ||
| Wind Creek | 2020 | No | ||
| Live! Hotel & Casino | 2020 | No |
Real-money gambling apps in PA
There are currently nine online sportsbooks, ten online casinos, and one online poker option in Pennsylvania. Here is a look at when each of them launched:
More apps continue to go live in 2020. Harrah’s Philadelphia finally launched its Caesars Sportsbook app in March. In April, the Caesars Online Casino followed. A WSOP online poker room is expected to go live in PA in the near future as well. PA also got a DraftKings Online Casino on May 1.
What online casino options are in PA?
Pennsylvania online casinos rolled out 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, PokerStars 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 online casino with the FanDuel branding.
BetAmerica and BetRivers Casino followed during the week leading up to the Super Bowl, both launching on Jan. 30. Caesars launched on April 23.
Each of these online casinos offer relatively small libraries of games. Things that are commonplace in New Jersey, like live dealer games, are just finally heading to Pennsylvania. Parx will likely be the first to add that popular offering, but DraftKings has announced intentions to do so too.
The online gambling industry in PA is now chugging along at full steam. But it still lags 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 have taken 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. Both operators and game providers planned on sharing New Jersey servers with their PA products. The change in regulations threw a wrench in their plans…and their timelines.
Many operators launched later than expected. But now that most are live, the number of game options are still not where they could – and likely eventually will – be. Expect that to change as competition in PA drives innovation and game offerings.
What PA sports betting sites are live and legal?
Online sportsbooks, on the other hand, got off to a hotter start.
After initial slim pickings for iPhone users seeking to sports bet in Pennsylvania, they now have several options to choose from. Parx and Caesars are currently the only sportsbooks without an iPhone option.
Unibet, BetRivers, and PlaySugarHouse do not have an iOS app for sportsbook users, but all three offer browser-based betting in tandem with the GeoGuard app, a geolocation app from GeoComply that allows for browser gaming.
The launch of FanDuel Sportsbook was when the market for Pennsylvania sports betting really started to open up. The sportsbook combined the PA and New Jersey app into a single venture for both Android and iOS, with the site geolocating you to determine what you can bet on. DraftKings Sportsbook similarly offers a single app that works in all states where DraftKings accepts regulated sports bets.
FOX Bet also launched with both iOS and Android options when it went live in September 2019, but it segregates apps based on states and offers a separate PA and NJ version for users.
The big perk of this for users is the shared wallet across states. If you go back and forth between Pennsylvania and New Jersey, no more worrying about whether or not the right account is properly funded.
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.
Given the slow start though, it may be a while before new sites launch. Eventually these casinos should offer online poker alongside Mount Airy, PokerStars’s casino partner in PA.
- SugarHouse
- Harrah’s
- Hollywood Casino
- Parx
- Valley Forge
- Wind Creek
The next most likely candidate to launch appears to be WSOP.com, which has offered a couple of hints to suggest it might be up in running in Pennsylvania by summer. The other contender to get going in PA next is partypoker, which is partnered with Valley Forge Casino. Both 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 the PGCB’s conservative approach to the Wire Act means compacting may take some time.
Compacting with other states is possible in the law and PGCB regulations, but uncertainty about which interpretation of the Wire Act will prevail means it is unlikely the PGCB will greenlight shared player pools until pending court action around the DOJ and the 2019 Wire Act opinion is complete.
