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Sands and Valley Forge Approved for PA Licenses – Rivers Withdraws Application
Pennsylvania iGaming application approvals continued on Thursday as two more casinos were granted licenses. Both Sand Bethlehem and Valley Forge Casino were approved for licenses. Meanwhile, Rivers Casino decided that they are no longer pursuing interactive gaming licenses, so there are three more licenses available for third parties.
Sands Bethlehem and Valley Forge Casinos Approved for Licenses
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board convened on Thursday to consider the application of both the Sands Bethlehem and Valley Forge Casino. The application for the Sands would seem a bit hypocritical on the surface since they have been staunch opponents of online gambling in the state, but they have been forced to apply for a license as part of negotiations towards a sale of the casino.
According to general counsel Michael Magazzu, the only reason that they even bothered to apply is that of the pending sale. If not for that, they would not have bothered to apply. The casino is currently under sale negotiations to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians who are working towards a $1.3 billion purchase of the property.
Since the deal is not near complete, Sands was forced to make the application for the licenses. Magazzu also confirmed that should the sale of the casino fail, they will forfeit the permits. This would also cost them their licensing fees of $10 million. Although realistically, it is doubtful that Sands would do this if they weren’t certain that the deal would go through.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on Wednesday awarded an online gambling license to Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem and another casino while also doling out its first sports betting… https://t.co/0JHi0OrJGq
— Walnutport.com (@WalnutportCom) October 4, 2018
Valley Forge was next to speak to the PGCB and put together a thorough presentation for their online gaming along with their plans for sports betting. IGT will offer online poker, online casino games, and online slots. Their presentation included information about plans for their gaming, along with mock-ups of their gaming website.
In the end, both Valley Forge and Sands were granted permits, although Valley Forge to certain conditions that they should easily meet. That brings the total to seven for casinos now approved to offer online gambling. Mount Airy, SugarHouse, Harrah’s, Parx, and Hollywood Casinos are all approved.
Rivers Casino Withdraws Their Applications
It was also revealed the Rivers Casino has decided to withdraw their applications for online gaming permits, adding three more permits to the group of at-large permits available to third parties. The owners of Rivers Casino, Rush Street Gaming, also owns the SugarHouse casinos that’s already approved for iGaming.
According to a statement given to OnlinePokerReport.com, Rivers Casinos is “taking additional time to explore the various options” for iGaming in the state. They did state they will still pursue live and online sports betting, which isn’t exactly that much of a shock.
With Rivers Casino withdrawing their applications, that leaves ten licenses up for grabs for third parties or Qualified Gaming Entities as described by the PGCB. These parties can petition for one of the licenses through the end of October at with point the PGCB will draw names out of a hat for those that will be allowed to apply for a license.
Any entity that applies will have to pay a $4 million licensing fee and go through the same vetting process as any entity in Pennsylvania does. Some potential applicants for these licenses may include Bet365, 888, William Hill, and Winamax among others.
There’s still no timetable in play regarding when online gambling will go online in Pennsylvania, but the general rumor seems to be around the Spring of 2018. At this point, rumor is the best we can provide, and most of that is based on statements made by PokerStars to their shareholders.
The next hearing by the PGCB will be on October 31 and we will know then how many more licenses will be approved and hopefully begin to get an idea of a potential launch.
