About two months since the first online sportsbook opened in Pennsylvania at the end of May (PlaySugarHouse), the Pennsylvania sports betting market is almost fully mature. FanDuel sportsbook had its “soft launch” this week and will be fully live on July 29.
This marks the first major operator to open up in the state, and, with no DraftKings in Pennsylvania at this time, FanDuel is in position to dominate the Keystone State.
As of July 15, Pennsylvania casinos are eligible to launch online casinos as well. As of July 25, there are three online casinos that have launched (Parx, SugarHouse, and Hollywood Casino).
FanDuel also became the fourth online sportsbook to launch. With four online sportsbooks and three online casinos, Pennsylvania residents are starting to get the full treatment of online gaming options.
Three more online sportsbooks are expected to launch before the start of the upcoming NFL season, Hollywood Casino, Harrah’s Philadelphia, and Presque Isle Downs.
Presque Isle Downs retail sportsbook began its two-day testing period on July 24. Three more online casinos are also expected to launch this summer, Harrah’s Philadelphia, Presque Isle Downs, and FanDuel at Valley Forge Casino.
That means by September, Pennsylvania will have seven online sportsbooks and six online casinos with two more of each expected by the end of 2019 (Mohegan Sun Pocono and Mount Airy/FoxBet).
This will bring Pennsylvania to a fully mature online sports betting and online casino market. However, there is still one online gaming aspect that is still missing in Pennsylvania, and nobody seems to know why.
No Online Poker Yet
As part of the $10 million licensing fees that casinos paid to be granted online sports betting and online casino licenses, an online poker license was lumped into it. That means any casinos that are offering online sports betting or online casino gaming are eligible to offer online poker rooms as well.
Online poker was expected to launch on the July 15 timetable that online casinos were eligible to launch, but just a couple weeks prior, it was announced by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board that no casinos were ready to launch online poker.
Now it is a first-come, first-served online poker market. Casinos can launch their online poker product whenever they are ready. The first to the finish line will be in a great position as Pennsylvania residents have been waiting for legal online poker since it was passed in October of 2017.
Nevada, Delaware, and New Jersey are the only three states with legal, regulated online poker. The population of Pennsylvania (12.3 million) is bigger than all three of those states combined (11.6 million), which means the market potential is huge for these poker rooms.
We’ve seen the online gaming success in Nevada and New Jersey, which have fully mature online gaming markets. Pennsylvania is expected to rival those states, but until online poker is launched in Pennsylvania, Keystone State residents will continue to feel unfulfilled.
Online poker doesn’t generate a ton of revenue in comparison to online casinos, but in a poker state as big as Pennsylvania, a lot more revenue will be made than expected. Once Pennsylvania gets all three online gaming products launched, they very well could surpass New Jersey and Nevada once the market reaches its full potential.
