Pennsylvania online gambling to launch in July
Pennsylvania residents will eventually get the chance to play casino games and bet on sporting events online, but the launch date for those mobile offerings is still a few months away.
According to Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) executive director Kevin O’Toole, the first online gambling sites are likely to start taking bets sometime around July.
That word came during O’Toole’s testimony before the Pennsylvania House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday.
“We are getting close,” O’Toole told the committee. “If not right before the end of this fiscal year, definitely at the beginning of the next.”
The fiscal year begins in July, so O’Toole was essentially suggesting a late spring or early summer start time for online gambling sites.
According to O’Toole, most of that time will be needed to test and certify the software systems that will be used to operate the online casinos and sportsbooks.
But some of the wait may also be due to the new interpretation of the Wire Act issued by the Department of Justice earlier this year. After that opinion was released, the PGCB gave notice to casinos that they would have to fully comply with the Wire Act in order to be licensed to offer online gambling in the state.