Pennsylvania To Hand Out Online Gambling Licenses

From April 2nd and onwards, the state of Pennsylvania’s official gambling regulatory body will start accepting applications for online gambling licenses. There will be thirteen online licenses in total that the state’s Gaming Control Board will begin handing out to its land-based casinos who apply for them – one for each casino, and a thirteenth will soon begin operations. The license fee for operating an online casino with slot, table and poker games currently stands at $10 million, with the tax on online slots being a massive 54%.

Pennsylvania is the fourth US state that has legalized online gambling – this was officially completed in October 2017, and the bill ed on that occasion also paves the way for sports betting and fantasy sports becoming regulated, although this will largely depend on the outcome of New Jersey’s Supreme Court appeal. Online gambling legalization could also create a healthy environment for the establishing of online lottery ticket sales, tablet gaming at airports, “satellite” casinos in the state etc.

The fate of the state’s online gambling landscape could be determined by the path set by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, who in April 2013 started accepting online gambling licenses and applications and helped launch the first online gambling sites towards the end of that year. Having that in mind, it is quite realistic that Pennsylvania could have its own in-state online gambling sites by the end of 2018.

The officials are in no hurry, however. The licenses are ready and available only to existing gambling licensees in the state and one of the prerequisites for gaining the online license is partnering up with a third-party software provider who will also have to apply for the license separately.

Certain Pennsylvania casinos, such as Sands Bethlehem and Parx Casino, have opposed the online gambling legalization efforts, concerned that it would “cannibalize the land-based” sector.