While the 2019 World Series of Poker was wrapping up, the “start date” for online gaming and poker in Pennsylvania’s came around. On July 15, the proposed opening of the new Pennsylvania industry took place with the “soft” opening of two online casinos. The news isn’t so good for online poker, however, with its start delayed “indefinitely.”
First Out of the Gate
Nearly two years after the approval by the Pennsylvania legislature and Gov Tom Wolf, both Parx Casino and Hollywood Casino opened for business with what is called a “soft” launch. A “soft” launch is a short term opening to see how things run and, if there are any glitches, that they can be fixed before a “hard” opening. In the cases of Parx and Hollywood, they opened up for three days this last week for eight-hour periods each day. They were joined by a third casino, SugarHouse Casino (which will become Rivers Casino Philadelphia), who had their own “soft” opening on Wednesday.
These new online casinos offered the usual assortment of games that you would find in a “brick and mortar” casino. Slots, table games (baccarat, blackjack, roulette) and other offerings were being tested, with eager Keystone State residents ready to test their skills against “the house.” It also allowed regulators to test their systems, including geo-location (as players must be in the state of Pennsylvania to be able to partake of the games) and age verification processes.
For Parx and SugarHouse, this was just the next step in their online operations. Both locations have been running their online sportsbooks with great success. The addition of casino gaming is expected to bring in millions for both casino operations.
…But No Online Poker Yet
The one thing that is missing from the start of the Pennsylvania online gaming operations is online poker, which also passed in 2017. Douglas Harbach, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, stated to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Andrew Maykuth that the start of what is considered “peer-to-peer” gaming – gaming that is between two human participants – is “more complicated” and thus required more time to work the kinks out. Harbach did not say to the Inquirer when online poker would be allowed, but that it was “indefinitely delayed.”
Harbach went into more depth with Michael Gentile of Pokerfuse in stating that there was one operator that was ready to go for poker and that, whenever the operators are ready to start online poker, they would do so. “Poker will be rolled out when operators are prepared to do so,” Harbach said to Gentile, but he didn’t indicate when this would occur and whether there would be some coordination with the regulatory body or it would be a “first mover” situation.
About Time for Pennsylvania?
It’s been a long road for Pennsylvania with their online gaming and poker regulations. After a great deal of debate in 2017, it took more than a year of work to get the regulations set for the casino operators in the state and any software providers. Licensing got off to a slow start in June 2018, with several casinos waiting until the last minute to purchase their licenses. The licenses would eventually sell out, but it made for admittedly tense moments for Pennsylvania regulators. In April 2019, the PGCB announced without much fanfare that individual operators would be able to begin to accept bets on July 15, with sports betting opening in the state prior to that.
There will be many eyes on Pennsylvania over the first few months of their new online operation. As the largest state to offer online gaming and poker to their intrastate audience (Pennsylvania has more citizens – 12.8 million – than the other three states that have regulated online gaming and poker combined (Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware, which total around 12.5 million)), the revenues generated and the number of participants will be critical in judging the success of the new industry. It will also give many other states that have been debating the online gaming issue ammunition – but which way that information goes will be the question.