While Pennsylvanians continue to wait – patiently – for online poker sites to flip their switches, they can now bet on sports from the comfort of their own homes, as live testing of sports betting sites commenced this week.
Sugarhouse Leads Off
There is just one casino that has launched its online sportsbook so far: Sugarhouse, which did so on Tuesday. The site can be accessed online at playsugarhouse.com as well as via Android mobile app. The iOS app is still awaiting approval. Customers must register with an e-mail address and supply all of the standard information like name, address, phone number, and date of birth. A mobile phone number is also required, as this is part of the geolocation process. The last four digits of a customer’s social security number are also used for identity verification. Sugarhouse may also ask for identity documents to be uploaded, but it doesn’t appear from my quick browse through the help section of the website that these would be required upon initial registration.
Many More Sites to Come
According to Online Poker Report, Parx Sportsbook and Rivers Sportsbook are likely to be the next two to launch the public testing of their online sports betting services, but for right now, Sugarhouse has a significant first-mover advantage. It makes sense that those two would be next, as their sports betting partner is Kambi, the same as Sugarhouse. The South Philadelphia Turf Club and Valley Forge Race and Sportsbook have also partnered with Kambi.
All of the above have already launched brick-and-mortar sportsbooks, some dating back to late last year. Hollywood Casino (partnered with William Hill), Harrah’s Philadelphia (Scientific Games), and Valley Forge Casino (FanDuel) have also opened retail sports books. Mohegan Sun Pocono (Unibet), Mount Airy Casino (BetStars), and Presque Isle Downs (CDI) are all on their way.
It was not cheap for the casinos to get into the sports betting game, so they must think it will be well worth it. The licenses cost $10 million each and they must pay a 34 percent state tax plus a 2 percent local tax on revenue.
As mentioned at the top, online poker is still to come; in April it was announced that July 15th will be the go-live date for Pennsylvania to finally join Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey as the only states with online poker and/or casino games.
All of the previously listed casinos, except for possibly Rivers, plan on launching online casino sites. Most – minus Mohegan Sun and Presque Isle – also plan to offer online poker. There were certainly be a lot of competition in the Pennsylvania market, but a few casinos stand out of potentially being of particular interest to poker players. Harrah’s Philadelphia has partnered with 888poker and very well may launch another version of WSOP.com and hopefully later network it with the other two in Nevada and New Jersey, as well as the 888 sites in Delaware. Mount Airy will be a PokerStars casino; PokerStars has a New Jersey based site, so again, if Pennsylvania is able to form an interstate compact with the other states (Wire Act pending), that could be a formidable network. And Valley Forge Casino will work with partypoker; partypoker has a site in New Jersey and will eventually have one in Nevada.