Bet on sports with the Barstool Sportsbook from Penn National Gaming (NASDAQ: PENN) and Barstool Sports while enjoying the same online sports betting experience used by Dave “El Presidente” Portnoy and Dan “Big Cat” Katz. As the state legislators duke it out with the Governor over sports betting models, operators are wasting no time preparing for New York sports betting. Penn National Gaming signed a deal with Rivers Casino & Resort while Golden Nugget Online Gaming inked with Tioga Downs. Each deal is good for 20 years, pending Empire State sports betting.
The following locations have been approved for a sports gaming license by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB):
Sportsbook | Location | Operator | Retail Launch Date | Online Launch Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
SugarHouse Sportsbook PA | Philadelphia | Kambi | Dec 2018 | May 31. 2019 |
BetRivers Sportsbook App | Pittsburgh | Kambi | Dec 2018 | June 27, 2019 |
Parx Online Sportsbook App | Bensalem | Kambi | Jan 2019 | June 27, 2019 |
FanDuel Sportsbook at Valley Forge Casino | King of Prussia | FanDuel | March 2019 | July 22, 2019 |
Hollywood Casino at Penn National | Grantville | Kambi | Nov 2018 | 2020 |
Harrah’s Philadelphia | Chester | Scientific Games | Jan 2019 | 2020 |
Presque Isle Downs and Casino | Erie | BetAmerica | July 2019 | Dec. 16, 2019 |
South Philly Turf Club (Parx) | Philadelphia | Kambi | March 2019 | N/A |
Valley Forge Turf Club | Oaks | Kambi | March 2019 | N/A |
Mohegan Sun Pocono | Wilkes-Barre | Unibet | September 2019 | Nov. 12, 2019 |
Mount Airy Casino | Mt Pocono | The Stars Group/FOX Bet | September 2019 | Sept. 4, 2019 |
The Meadows | Washington | DraftKings | October 2019 | Nov. 4, 2019 |
There are currently twelve Pennsylvania sportsbooks up and running, including two at off-track betting facilities. Unibet is scheduled for a Nov. 12 soft-launch date. It will a sports betting app and an online casino.
If you’ve been following Pennsylvania sports betting news, you know that the launch of online sportsbooks in the state felt like Charlie Brown trying to kick a football at times.
Finally, in May 2019, SugarHouse Sportsbook soft-launched PA’s first online betting app. PlaySugarHouse Sportsbook fully launched in the beginning of June making it Pennsylvania’s first online sportsbook. Since then, the market has grown to eight online betting apps with a few more still on the way.
Each sportsbook in Pennsylvania can have a single online sports betting skin. That skin must prominently feature the name of the PA property holding the license. Even with that stipulation though, there are plenty of big names that partnered up to get into the Pennsylvania sports betting market.
Here is a breakdown of what companies are working with each PA casino:
These two casinos share a sports betting partner that also works with Parx. Like Parx, the casinos benefit from the quality tech Kambi offers as well as a wide range of bets.
This is a particularly sweet deal for Rivers patrons in Pittsburgh. Even though the book is the only game in town, the prices are the same as SugarHouse, which is in a market filled with books competing for market share.
PlaySugarHouse hit the mobile sportsbetting market first in PA in June 2019. BetRivers launched its sportsbetting app on June 25, 2019.
The first retail sportsbook to open in Pennsylvania partnered up with one of the oldest and biggest names in the game: William Hill. However, the partnership between William Hill and Hollywood Casino/Penn National Gaming ended in Oct. 2019.
The retail sportsbooks at Meadows Casino and Hollywood Casino are now powered by Kambi odds. Penn National Gaming announced that it entered into multiyear agreements for online sports betting and iGaming with big-name sports betting operators:
The biggest casino in the state wanted to be one of the first out the gate when it came to sports betting. Paperwork got the best of the property, which only opened its retail sportsbook in January. A $10 million, 10,000-square-foot permanent sportsbook opened its doors on Aug. 8, 2019.
While it was not first, it did make the argument for being finest thanks to its partnership with Kambi. The European betting group is the supplier with the biggest reach in Pennsylvania. It works with Parx as well as the two Rush Street properties, Rivers and SugarHouse.
Kambi couldn’t go online when Parx opened, but it did offer something close. Parx unveiled a website they named Betslip Builder, which allows bettors to put together bets on their phone, then scan a QR code once they get to the betting counter.
Parx launched PA’s second online sportsbook on June 24, 2019.
FanDuel may be known by most for its daily fantasy sports offering, but the brand is quickly and successfully making its way into sports betting. The FanDuel Sportsbook at the Valley Forge Casinoopened just in time for March Madness on March 13, 2019.
FanDuel and Valley Forge Casino also launched a mobile sports betting product at the end of July 2019.
Mount Airy Casino might have been late PA sports betting market, but they brought one of the bigger brands in the online casino space.
FOX Bet arrived in Pennsylvania on Sept. 5, 2019.
In addition to FOX Bet, the Mount Airy deal also includes a PokerStars and Mount Airy online poker site and a Stars Group-powered online casino. The fully integrated online gambling app with the first online poker in PA debuted on Nov. 4, 2019.
Mohegan Sun Pocono was the last of the current crop of Pennsylvania casinos to announce a partnership with a sports betting company. Though it was last, the partner is not a bad one at all. Mohegan Sun Pocono will be working with the European company Kindred. The company is best known for the Unibet brand overseas.
The new 1,130-square-foot Unibet Sportsbook at Mohegan Sun Pocono opened on Sept. 27, 2019.
Unibet launched its sports betting app and online casino in November 2019.
While Caesars Entertainment was one of the last casino companies to get in the app game in Nevada, the corporation is definitely stepping up its game as online betting expands.
The company rolled out a brand new Caesars Sportsbook app that was integrated with its NJ online casino. The brand-new app is powered by Scientific Games technology. You can expect the sports betting and casino to be integrated together for the PA app as well. However, there is certainly a chance that Harrah’s has to roll out its sports betting app separately, then integrate at a later date.
Given that Harrah’s was a bit late to the retail game and the property is not as busy as competitors like SugarHouse and Parx, they are having trouble establishing much market share in Philadelphia so far.
In August, DraftKingsannounced its plans to pair with Penn National Gaming. The retail sportsbook at The Meadows opened in early October. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board approved DraftKings PA sports betting license through Penn National during its Oct. 30 meeting, opening the door for it to launch on Nov. 4.
Presque Isle Downs’ parent company, Churchill Downs, is a real pro when it comes to horse racing and horse betting. It is still relatively new at sports betting though. When the BetAmerica Sportsbook launched in PA in December 2019, it was only the second state Churchill had an operational sportsbook in. The copany is rapidly growing the BetAmerica brand though.
Live! Casino Philadelphia received preliminary approval from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in Oct. 2019 for sports betting. Though the Cordish Company did not mention a possible operator for the sportsbook, they do plan to launch online operations ahead of the casino’s planned Dec. 2020 opening.
While Wind Creek Bethlehem filed an application for a sports betting license, the property has been cagey about which companies they will work with and when it will launch.