August 15, 2018
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board announced Wednesday that two local casino operators have received approval to offer “interactive gaming,” or Internet-based gambling.
Petitions by Chester Downs and Marina, LLC, which operates Harrah’s Casino Philadelphia in Chester, and Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment Inc., which operates Parx in Bucks County, as well as Mount Airy #1, LLC, which operates the Mount Airy Resort Casino, were green-lighted.
Six other casinos will have their petitions for interactive gaming licenses heard at subsequent board hearings later this year.
According to the Gaming Control Board, interactive gaming includes:
• Peer-to-peer interactive games where players compete directly against other players, like poker
• Non-peer-to-peer interactive games where players compete against the dealer’s hand, which simulate table games
• Non-peer-to-peer interactive games which simulate slot machines
An interactive gaming certificate carries a license fee of $10 million, which must be paid in the next 60 days. The Gaming Control Board clarified that it has yet to establish a date when interactive gaming will begin.
In order to participate in a state’s legal online gambling market, users have to first prove their location using geolocation and verification technologies. This is true in New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada, the only three states where online gambling is legal and regulated (for the moment).
According to Play NJ, a private website dedicated to the state’s casinos, New Jersey’s legal online gambling industry generated $25.9 million in July.
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