The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board held its monthly meeting today (Wednesday) and issued online gambling licenses to two more operators. The gaming authority also awarded three sports betting licenses.
Interim approval was given to the Churchill Downs owned Presque Isle Downs in Erie. The yet-to-be-constructed Stadium Casino in Philadelphia was also awarded an online gambling license. As such, nine operators have received official approval so far.
Earlier this month, Stadium Casino asked to withdraw its online poker license application, with word on the street being that the project – co-owned by Cording Gaming and Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment – was “in a bit of a pickle”. The casino will still go ahead with its application to offer online slots and online table games.
There are now five operators with sports betting licenses in Pennsylvania’s new expanded gambling market. This month, the Board awarded licenses to Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack, SugarHouse Casino and Rivers Casino. Two other operators already hold licenses, namely Greenwood Gaming’s Parx Casino and National Gaming’s Hollywood Casino.
The PGCB also issued five fines to local casinos who were found to be in violation of Pennsylvania gambling laws.
Presque Isle Downs was found guilty of five different incidents when players under the age of 21 managed to gain access to the casino and play slot and casino games. The casino was slapped with a $45,000 fine.
Harrah’s Philadelphia was also in the bad books for allowing the operation of non-compliant slot machines and for bad record-keeping in table games. This casino was charged $40,000 for the infractions.
The third casino to face a fine, albeit smaller than the other two at $22.500, was Parx Casino. They were charged with allowing progressive slot machines to play without getting the authority’s approval first.
The Pennsylvania online gambling market is coming together nicely, with 11 individual permits now up for grabs. There are 5 online poker licenses, 3 online table game licenses and 3 online slots licenses still to be claimed. Out of state operators may apply for these licenses.
