All casinos in Pennsylvania are closed in order to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus as of Tuesday, March 17.
By Monday morning, six of the state’s brick-and-mortar casinos shuttered. During Gov. Tom Wolf‘s afternoon press conference on Monday, he ordered a state shutdown of all nonessential businesses.
Welcome to your guide for doing business in Pennsylvania! Whether you are thinking about starting your own business, expanding your existing company, or are considering a move to the Keystone State, this site will provide useful information to help you work smart and live happy in Pennsylvania. Tribal casinos across the state are still open for business despite Governor Stitt's warning that gambling there is now illegal. State leaders claim the gaming compact between Native American. Pennsylvania online poker and gaming specifics and regulations. All real-money online gaming operators within PA must follow strict gaming regulations. This ensures player funds and information are secure. Here are some of the regulations set by Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB): Players must be 21 or older. Sites must verify identification.
“The casinos in the counties originally targeted were asked to close and that will be true across the state. It’s a part of the broader message which is let us limit the opportunities for people to gather together. This has to be self-enforced. It’s not the government mandating anything.”
After Wolf’s conference, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) ordered the closure of the remaining six open casinos.
However, online casinos in Pennsylvania are still open for business.
PGCB spokesperson Richard McGarvey said:
“To this point the PGCB is not aware of any disruption of online services.”
Coronavirus-related casino closures in PA
In the unprecedented and ever-changing time of the coronavirus, Pennsylvania’s 12 brick-and-mortar casinos will be closed for at least two weeks. Casinos also shut down in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Delaware.
The closures are part of an effort to curb the spread of the virus and flatten the curve. Macau, considered the gambling capital of the world, closed for 15 days when China tried to contain the spread.
The PGCB press release, announcing the closure of all PA casinos, said in part:
“The order to close follows the rapid expansion of reported COVID-19 cases and is aimed at mitigating the spread of the virus. While the closure of the casinos is temporary, there is no specific indication of when reopening will occur. The public health and safety of patrons, casino employees and others are of paramount importance.”
The PGCB continuously monitors developments and maintains regular communications with gaming and state operators to determine the next appropriate steps. PlayPennsylvania provides regular coronavirus updates pertaining to PA casinos.
Online casinos and sportsbooks still operating
Pennsylvania is home to eight online casinos:
- Parx
- PokerStars
- BetAmerica
The first online casinos launched in July. According to a Pennsylvania doctor, they are safer, and the only way to play during a pandemic. Pennsylvania’s online casinos have libraries that include slots, table games and video poker.
As with sportsbooks nationwide, the menu at Pennsylvania’sonline sportsbooks has been limited due to the shutdown of major sports. In New Jersey and some other states, you are able to wager on things such as Tom Brady‘s next team, and the possible first pick in the NFL Draft. However, those types of bets are not available in Pennsylvania.
In PA, it’s just the letter of the law, per McGarvey:
“The law defines sports wagering as the business of accepting wagers on sporting events or on the individual performance statistics of athletes in a sporting event or combination of sporting events by any system or method of wagering.”
In the meantime, those looking for action may be turning to online casino options, which are vast in PA.
While the 2019 World Series of Poker waswrapping up, the “start date” for online gaming and poker in Pennsylvania’s camearound. On July 15, the proposed opening of the new Pennsylvania industry tookplace with the “soft” opening of two online casinos. The news isn’t so good foronline poker, however, with its start delayed “indefinitely.”
First Out of the Gate
Nearly two years after the approval by thePennsylvania legislature and Gov Tom Wolf, both Parx Casino and HollywoodCasino opened for business with what is called a “soft” launch. A “soft” launchis a short term opening to see how things run and, if there are any glitches, thatthey can be fixed before a “hard” opening. In the cases of Parx and Hollywood,they opened up for three days this last week for eight-hour periods each day. Theywere joined by a third casino, SugarHouse Casino (which will become RiversCasino Philadelphia), who had their own “soft” opening on Wednesday.
These new online casinos offered the usualassortment of games that you would find in a “brick and mortar” casino. Slots,table games (baccarat, blackjack, roulette) and other offerings were beingtested, with eager Keystone State residents ready to test their skills against “thehouse.” It also allowed regulators to test their systems, includinggeo-location (as players must be in the state of Pennsylvania to be able topartake of the games) and age verification processes.
For Parx and SugarHouse, this was just thenext step in their online operations. Both locations have been running theironline sportsbooks with great success. The addition of casino gaming isexpected to bring in millions for both casino operations.
…But No Online Poker Yet
The one thing that is missing from thestart of the Pennsylvania online gaming operations is online poker, which alsopassed in 2017. Douglas Harbach, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania GamingControl Board, statedto the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Andrew Maykuth that the start of whatis considered “peer-to-peer” gaming – gaming that is between two humanparticipants – is “more complicated” andthus required more time to work the kinks out. Harbach did not say to the Inquirerwhen online poker would be allowed, but that it was “indefinitely delayed.”
Harbach went into more depth with MichaelGentile of Pokerfuse in stating that there was one operator that was readyto go for poker and that, whenever the operators are ready to start onlinepoker, they would do so. “Poker will be rolled out when operators are preparedto do so,” Harbach said to Gentile, but he didn’t indicate when this wouldoccur and whether there would be some coordination with the regulatory body orit would be a “first mover” situation.
Online Casinos For Pennsylvania Residents
About Time for Pennsylvania?
Online Casino Business
It’s been a long road for Pennsylvania with their online gaming and poker regulations. After a great deal of debate in 2017, it took more than a year of work to get the regulations set for the casino operators in the state and any software providers. Licensing got off to a slow start in June 2018, with several casinos waiting until the last minute to purchase their licenses. The licenses would eventually sell out, but it made for admittedly tense moments for Pennsylvania regulators. In April 2019, the PGCB announced without much fanfare that individual operators would be able to begin to accept bets on July 15, with sports betting opening in the state prior to that.
Pennsylvania Casinos Open
There will be many eyes on Pennsylvania over the first few months of their new online operation. As the largest state to offer online gaming and poker to their intrastate audience (Pennsylvania has more citizens – 12.8 million – than the other three states that have regulated online gaming and poker combined (Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware, which total around 12.5 million)), the revenues generated and the number of participants will be critical in judging the success of the new industry. It will also give many other states that have been debating the online gaming issue ammunition – but which way that information goes will be the question.