Following the September meeting of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, the authority awarded two more online gambling licenses to local casinos. Both Hollywood Casino (owned by Penn National Gaming) and SugarHouse Casino (owned by Rush Street Gaming), were given the green light to operate in the Keystone State’s online gambling market.
This brings to five the number of casinos that have been awarded online gambling licenses, after the Parx Casino, Harrah’s Casino Philadelphia and Mounty Airy were all approved last month.
Of the 13 casino licensees in Pennsylvania, 11 of them have applied for online gambling licenses.
Under the new gambling laws passed in Pennsylvania, licenses not allocated within the state (due to lack of interest or inability to meet the criteria set by the authority), can now be offered to out-of-state companies (or ‘qualified gaming entities – QGEs as they are known).
QGE’s are defined as “a gaming entity licensed in any jurisdiction which has satisfied the requirements of this chapter and any other criteria established by the board, including financial and character suitability requirements.”
Any company (non-American companies included) that feels that is interested in holding a Pennsylvania online gambling license is invited to submit a petition in the second half of October this year. The Gaming Control Board will then check each submission carefully, and those who are deemed suitable will be entered into a random drawing. The winners of this drawing then have 45 days to file their application.
The gambling authority has still not made public its target date for the launch of Pennsylvania’s online gambling market. Analysts, however, do not believe that it will be before the end of 2018. It is also believed that all qualifying online gambling license holders will launch on the same day (as was done in New Jersey) so that the industry begins as a level playing field for all involved.
Of the 11 Pennsylvania casinos that have applied for a license, all of them except Presque Isle Downs, applied for licenses in all three categories – online poker, online slots and online table games. Presque Isle has chosen to opt out of online poker for the moment.
