Two more online gambling licences awarded in Pennsylvania

On Wednesday the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) awarded online gambling licenses to two more state casino operators, Penn National Gaming’s Hollywood Casino and Rush Street Gaming’s SugarHouse, bringing the number of online gambling licenses issued so far in the state to five.

In both cases, the operators sought licence to offer online slots, table games and poker. Local media reports that so far eleven of Pennsylvania’s thirteen land casino licensees have applied for online gambling licensing, with all except Presque Isle Downs applying for all three verticals.

Penn National’s application surprised industry observers by revealing that its technology partner in the Pennsylvanian initiative is IGT and not the more usual Scientific Games.

Any licenses left over from the allocation to existing land casino operator licensees will be offered to out-of-state operators, and the PGCB referred to this provision at Wednesday’s meeting, advising that applications will be accepted between October 15 and 31 this year.

The applicants will be vetted for suitability and then subjected to a random drawing to arrive at a final list, who will have 45 days to submit a final application for full vetting and possibly the award of a licence.

Observers who were expecting the PCGB to pronounce on sports betting licence applications from Penn National Gaming and Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment were left disappointed when a Board spokesman said that discussions on these applications were not sufficiently advanced to produce a decision.

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