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PokerStars Approved For Online Gambling in PA
In a move that shouldn’t surprise anyone, PokerStars has officially been approved for an online gambling license in Pennsylvania. The Worlds Largest Poker Site was one of two receiving licenses on Wednesday from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
PokerStars will be offering online poker, online slots, and online casino games as part of their license. Also, Mohegan Sun Pocono was also conditionally approved for licenses. They will be offering table games and online slots.
PokerStars to Enter Second Regulated Market
As most already know, PokerStars has an agreement with Mount Airy Casino to provide online gaming for Pennsylvania. The pair also plans to offer sports betting through BetStars. PokerStars received official approval from the PGCB on Wednesday, clearing the way for the company to offer services when online gaming officially launches.
The approval of @PokerStars is good news for online poker players in Pennsylvania (and probably New Jersey, too). https://t.co/e8J324IQ5v
— OnlinePokerReport (@OPRupdate) November 29, 2018
This is the second state that PokerStars will offer services in. They presently offer online poker in New Jersey and many expect that the PokerStars PA will form some type of network with PokerStars NJ in the future.
Mohegan Sun Approved for Slots and Table Games
The other party approved for online gambling on Wednesday was Downs Racing, owners of Mohegan Sun Pocono. Originally, the group had applied to offer online poker, online slots, and online table games, but they surrendered their online poker application on Wednesday
Why the change of heart? Probably because the market will not support more than three or four online poker rooms and with partypoker, PokerStars, and WSOP.com likely to be coming to the state, this doesn’t leave much in the way of market share for other companies.
During the hearing on Wednesday, Downs Racing gave some clues as to whom they may partner with. The mentioned that the company is partnered with Scientific Games and they are presently applying for an NJ online gambling license. According to OnlinePokerReport.com, this partner will likely be Kindred Group who has a deal with Hard Rock AC and Scientific Games.
Twelve Permits Remain At-Large
So with the surrender of their online poker permit by Downs Racing, that leaves 12 permits up for grabs by Qualified Gaming Entities from outside of Pennsylvania. Six of those permits are for online poker while three each are available for online table games and slots.
Presently, only two companies have applied to be a QGE, Golden Nugget, and MGM. It will be interesting to see whether anyone else will apply for online poker seeing that additional sites could risk oversaturation.
Odds are that the online slots and online table game permits will be picked up at some point as the chances of those sites being profitable are much greater than online poker. Just take a look at New Jersey to see what to expect from poker. While an interstate network will help PA poker, there’s still a limit to how much you can make from a limited market.
So When Does PA Go Online?
The million dollar question now is when PA will launch online gambling. PokerStars has hinted at a Spring 2019 launch date but nothing has been put in stone by anyone with the PGCB or any other organization.
A spring launch would be ideal, especially for sites such as WSOP.com PA that promote the 2019 World Series of Poker. However, the matter of remaining licenses still has to be resolved and then any form of testing for sites still needs to be completed.
While it is certainly possible to fast-track the process and get the sites online sooner rather than later, odds are that we may be waiting until summer or even Fall 2019 before we see legal online gambling launched in PA.
