Pennsylvania allows sports betting and mobile online wagering.
Pennsylvania
The state of Pennsylvania allows sports betting and mobile online wagering.
Almost immediately after PASPA was repealed and sports betting was legalized in New Jersey, Pennsylvania started making plans for both sports betting within casinos and online. Once the Keystone State’s governing bodies realized the revenues that they could generate via taxation, plus the leisure and pleasure benefits to Pennsylvanians of being able to either bet in a casino or in their home, rather than travel to New Jersey, it was a rapid process and the first legal casino wagers were placed in November 2018, with the first apps launched in time for the 2019 NFL season.
Best Online Sportsbooks in Pennsylvania
Where can you place legal sports bets in Pennsylvania?
Like its neighbor New Jersey, Pennsylvania, has a strong casino gaming tradition and there are currently 12 fully licensed bricks and mortar casinos in the state. These now all have sportsbooks contained within the casino complex.
The first casino to offer sports betting was SugarHouse in Philadelphia, although it has since renamed itself to BetRivers, which was the name of the company’s flagship casino in Pittsburgh and the name of the sports betting app which will be rolled out across America (starting in Indiana already).
The 12 casinos in Pennsylvania which currently offer sports betting are:
- Rivers Casino, Philadelphia (formerly SugarHouse)
- Rivers Casino, Pittsburgh
- Harrah’s Philadelphia
- Hollywood Casino at Penn National Racetrack, Philadelphia
- Parx Casino & Racing Club
- Valley Forge Casino
- Valley Forge Turf Club
- Mount Airy Casino
- Mohegan Sun Pocono
- The Oaks Race & Sportsbook
- South Philly Turf Club
- Presque Isle Downs
What Can You Bet on in Pennsylvania?
Pennyslvania allows bets on almost all sporting events but, as with all other US states, you cannot bet on High School sports, nor can you bet on a team with which you are affiliated. This means that athletes, coaches and staff cannot bet on any games or leagues in which their team play. This goes for all levels of all sports offered anywhere in Pennsylvania.
There are also limitations on wagering on non-sports bets, which are slightly different to the likes of New Jersey, Nevada and West Virginia.
Those states will allow bets on the likes of the NBA Draft and Player Trade Betting, however, this is not legal in Pennsylvania in either casinos or online sportsbooks.
Esports betting in similarly not permitted in Pennsylvania.
Can You Bet Online in Pennsylvania?
Yes. In 2019, one year after New Jersey became the first state to legalize online sports betting, Pennsylvania followed suit with the PlaySugarHouse app being the first to launch in the Keystone State.
Like in New Jersey, sports betting licenses are tied to land based casinos or retail venues. This means that the casinos which are already live with sports betting in Pennsylvania can launch their own app for players within the state, but other ‘online first’ brands can partner with the casinos in order to offer their product to Pennsylvanians.
There is no necessity to go to any casino, racetrack or casino in order to open an account at an online sportsbook, simply register via links provided below and you can start betting from anywhere within state lines.
Anyone is eligible to open a sports betting account in Pennsylvania, providing that they are over 21 and within the state lines when they place their bets.
Which Online Sportsbooks are legal in Pennsylvania?
There are currently 6 legal sports betting apps in Pennsylvania, they are:
- SugarHouse Sportsbook: Went live May 28, 2019
- BetRivers Sportsbook: Went live June 27, 2019
- FanDuel Sportsbook: Went live July 22, 2019
- Fox Bet: Went live Sept. 4, 2019
- DraftKings Sportsbook: Went live Nov. 4, 2019
- BetAmerica: Went live Feb 2020
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How to Open an Online Betting Account in Pennsylvania
In order to place bets online in Pennsylvania, you must first open an account with one of the legal sportsbooks.
To do this, simply click on the links provided by NewAmericanSportsbooks and you will be taken to a registration page. This will always ask you for the following information:
- Your Name
- Your Address
- Your Email
- Your Chosen Username
- The last 4 digits of your social security number
Once these are entered, your eligibility for an account will be verified and you will be prompted to download the app to your phone. This will allow you to start betting.
Verifying Your Online Account – What You Need to Do
This is a relatively simple process but, as with opening any online accounts where financial transactions are involved, there are certain restrictions around who can open an account and the sportsbooks are required by law to verify certain details about account holders.
The verification process can be instantaneous and done automatically via the registration process. However, there are occasions when players will be asked to provide additional verification documents in order to confirm either their age, identity or address, before they are allowed to make cash transactions in their account.
Account Verification Documents
- Last 4 digits of SSN
- Passport or Driver’s License
- Proof of Address
- Utility Bill
- Full Social Security Number
Verifying Your Location – How to Prove You are in Pennsylvania
The only other legal check required after identity and age have been proven is for the sportsbooks to make sure that you are within the PA state lines when placing a bet. This process may seem frustrating but it is yet another safety check designed to keep everyone safe when wagering online and to ensure that there is no fraudulent activity which could ruin legal sports betting for all Americans.
There are two methods of checking your location which are used by all Pennsylvanian sportsbooks and they vary depending on the device being used.
Verifying Location on a Desktop PC or Laptop
If you want to place your sportsbook wagers via a Desktop PC or a Laptop, you will have to prove your location. As WIFI signal is not exact for location verification, and because Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) allow users to mask their location, the gaming industry has teamed up with a software provider named GeoComply to provide legal, safe and secure location verification services for both betting firms and customers.
Whichever PC or Laptop you wish to use to place sports bets must be fitted with GeoComply software, which automatically checks your location whenever you open a betting site in your browser. This is 100% and will not alter the performance of your computer, nor will it record any of your browsing information. It simply verifies that the IP address you are using is within the Pennsylvanian state lines and allows you to place wagers at all legal sportsbooks whenever you wish.
It’s important to note that GeoComply is a one-time download and you will not need to install it every time you wish to open a new sports betting account, nor every time you wish to bet online.
Verify Location on a Mobile Phone
The most common way that people will bet online is via their mobile phone and to do this you have to register your account via link provided and then subsequently download the sportsbook’s mobile app onto your smart phone.
The app itself contains the GeoComply software and so, like many other apps on your phone, if you ENABLE LOCATION SETTINGS, you will be able to be automatically located as soon as you load up the app. Occasionally, some sportsbooks may require you to log out and back in when launching the app for the first time, but this is a one time thing and after that you will be good to go.
It is always worth noting that there will be some public WIFI that won’t allow sports betting. Universiities, libraries and anywhere that doesn’t allow live streaming, is unlikely to allow you to bet on sports with their WIFI. It is always recommended that you use your phone’s data plan but more and more bars and restaurants are accommodating sports bettors and so there are less and less location issues for bettors.
Funding Online Sports Betting Accounts in Pennsylvania
Banking is slowly catching up with the legal sports betting market and we are seeing less and less issues with players depositing and withdrawing funds to and from accounts. There are various payment and withdrawal methods available to bettors and, unlike with offshore accounts, no worries whatsoever about receiving funds or any limitations on what you can withdraw and when.
The current payment methods to Pennsylvanian sports bettors are:
- Credit Cards
- Debit Cards
- PayPal
- Play+ Cards (Both Play+ Own Brand & Sportsbook Branded)
- Skrill
- Neteller
- Deposit Cash in Casinos
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