Are they allowed to advertise ahead of time?

still overall awesome news but bummed its only for PA players only, should open it up to NJ , DEL etc as well

So weird, right? I came on here to look for news on this very topic. Why has their been no hype? With player pool the size of PA, you think their would be some hype. I don't understand. I feel like we were given a few updates in NJ and NV prior to launch.

I'll give some personal insight into why I think there is a lack of regulated Pennsylvania online poker coverage at the moment, even in spite of a potential July 15th online poker/casino soft-launch in the Keystone State.

A. There's still uncertainty over the Wire Act, and how enforcement actions by the USDOJ in 2020 could potentially disrupt a legalized Pennsylvania online gambling market, especially if the federal government continues to seek to use the new OLC interpretation to formally crack down on the industry.

DOJ Wire Re-Interpretation (Post #310+)

B. There has been significant e-commerce pushback/restrictions from Apple, Facebook, and YouTube in regards to online gambling. Specifically Apple's new policy is expected to have a significant negative impact on the regulated statewide online casino industry.

Apple Store Crackdown: Online Gambling Apps
Facebook Removing Poker Content
YouTube Removing Poker Content

C. New Jersey (head of the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement compact between NJ/NV/DE -- and possibly one day Pennsylvania too) is potentially facing a government shutdown over budget negotiations that could freeze real money accounts within that formally licensed statewide market.

Government Shutdown Threat to New Jersey Online Casino and Sports Betting

The report says that the "crisis appears shelved" for the moment due to operator pushback, but to my understanding the final say remains with current New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and the NJ state legislature.

Posts #344 and #347 (DOJ Wire Act Re-interpretation Thread)

D. Online poker is more of a liability, or at the very least not very profitable, in ring-fenced markets with low player liquidity potential. Even with the current "shared liquidity" that exists between NJ/NV/DE, online poker represents a very tiny fraction of overall taxable revenue for New Jersey when compared to the much more lucrative online casino products.

E. Online gambling -- specifically online "peer-to-peer" gambling -- might be viewed as the "drizzling sh**s" by some lawmakers, in terms of liability to states that are looking to establish a solid foothold within formally licensed statewide U.S. markets. This is due to ongoing online poker concerns such as:

* game integrity/prohibited software usage
* data protection
* problem gambling
* online PvP gambling disputes between players
* unauthorized access/piracy/hacking
* existence of offshore-based "unregulated" sites that service U.S. customers
* history of friction dating back to 2006 UIGEA between online poker and federal gov't
* potential cross-state online gambling restrictions tied to DOJ Wire Act re-interpretation

F. Complete lack of interest demonstrated by certain NJ lawmakers in regards to "capturing" the current offshore/unregulated online gambling market. And a lack of interest in embracing crypto, usage of "jailbroken" mobile devices, VPNs/remote access. Some lawmakers/regulators may simply not want to deal with all that liability without strict geolocation and other measures in place beforehand.
---

With all that said, there is still a strong possibility that real money online poker games will at least "soft-launch" in Pennsylvania on or following July 15th.

The next PA Gaming Control Board meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 10th. The meeting agenda hasn't been published yet by the PGCB, but is typically available at least a few days before the meeting. Just click on the July 10th date here, to see if the meeting agenda is published in upcoming days. That will be a good indicator of whether PGCB Executive Director Kevin O'Toole is scheduled to speak before the Board, and/or whether "iGaming" will be discussed.

Obviously these are just my own personal observations, and do not represent any form of "official" communication for regulated online poker in Pennsylvania. My suggestion would be to keep an eye on related coverage for the next two weeks, and to watch the July 10th PGCB meeting in order to obtain direct knowledge of what those who are officially tasked with determining when/if online poker will be rolled out decide.

To answer another question I saw posted, there are no official deposit/withdrawal options established at this time, as online poker/casino games aren't available yet. It is my guess that licensed affiliates (I write for one such affiliate that has already received PGCB approval) will offer links plus deposit/withdrawal info once approval to do so is granted by the PA Gaming Control Board. Hope this helps.

-David Huber

I don't have anything more to add, but I've been following the Pennsylvania launch and I appreciate the write up David, I also think that Pennsylvania not joining NJ/DE/NV pool makes people less excited.

Someday perhaps.

Cheers!
John

got an email that now able to do online betting in pa with parx. currently they are offering a freebet when signing up.

Parx launched their Pennsylvania online sports betting service Monday. Online poker/casino soft launch is separate from online sports betting.

https://www.inquirer.com/business/on...-20190624.html

https://www.onlinepokerreport.com/37...ry-poker-room/

https://pokerfuse.com/news/law-and-r...-pennsylvania/

Appreciate the info folks, will be interesting to see what is rolled out on July 15.

Very excited for the launch date! I would most definitely expect website / program issues the first few days if not weeks. I may keep my buy in low to see how everything transpires. WOOHOO!! POKER BACK IN PA

Quakers must be quaking in their boots I suspect. But in a good way! GL.

I am excited about poker returning to PA, but wonder what the players might be like the first couple of weeks. For those that have gone through the restart of online poker, did you find the first 2 weeks loaded with sharks or fish?

Does anyone have any insight on how regulated poker coming to PA will affect players who play on grey-market US-facing sites(ACR/Ignition/etc) from PA?

You won't know until the regulated sites go live.

If I had to guess, I'd say none of them will care, as long as you already have an account opened. New accounts from PA wanting to play on ACR/Bovada/BOL and skins probably won't be allowed.

Just speculation though

Applicants and Licenses:

The following is a list of casinos that have received licenses, most for online poker and casino games but three for online slots and table games only, as marked:

–Parx Casino via Greenwood Gaming (poker partner: GAN/Kambi)

–Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino & Racetrack via Chester Downs (poker partner: 888)

–Mount Airy Casino Resort via Mount Airy #1 (poker partner: PokerStars)

–Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course via Mountainview (poker partner: IGT)

–Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem via Sands Bethworks Gaming (poker partner: unknown)

–SugarHouse Casino via Sugarhouse HSP Gaming (poker partner: Rush Street)

–Valley Forge Casino Resort via Valley Forge (poker partner: PartyPoker)

–Live! Philadelphia Casino via Stadium Casino (no online poker)

–Presque Isle Downs Casino via Presque Isle Downs (no online poker)

–Mohegan Sun Pocono via Downs Racing (no online poker)

In addition, it shows that Borgata in New Jersey filed a petition for a license to operate online poker and casino games, while Golden Nugget Pennsylvania filed to operate casino games only. Both were deemed “qualified gaming entities” and allowed by the PGCB to apply since there were licenses not claimed by Pennsylvania-based casino operators.

Link: https://www.legaluspokersites.com/ne...-gaming/18676/

The first couple of weeks weren't really loaded at all. Most really good players aren't around to play, having moved out of the country, or not finding the stakes big enough. Most fish don't know about the platform. It's mainly weak live players.

Assuming they follow other legal states, Ignition is the only site you won't be able to play on.

I disagree with everything you said. Parx regularly have some of the biggest mix game on the east coast and have a very solid highstake NL & PLO action. Some of the better reg at 2/5 and 5/10 will take this opportunity to get back to online to fill in the gap in their game from playing live in the last few years.

I expect the online scene to be very healthy.

Super pumped for this...I think traffic will be good based on my experience with the launch of NJ sites but there is much less interest in poker now than there was 6 years ago...if anything I'll be on every single table adding liquidity.

Planning to move to Philly.

Sorry for the confusion, he was asking for first hand experiences from people who lived in states where online poker had already been legalized. I was stating my experience with legal online poker, not trying to speculate on how the experience would be with PA online poker.

ewww ring fenced poker, i guess its a start. god im glad im canadian.

Probably a dumb question but I don't follow legal on line US poker. Have any states merged their poker player pools ? Could they , legally, if they wanted to ?

DE and Nevada has and maybe NJ. I don't know if they are part of WSOP or not.


At this point it's a monopoly and it's kinda meh.

Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware have a single player pool on the WSOP/888 client. When poker went online in NJ, it took about 8 months for the state to join the multi-state compact. Let's hope PA will be part of it in 2020, as the size of the pool would roughly double. PA and NJ also could share player pools from other clients, like PokerStars, which aren't present at the moment in NV or DE.

Here is a suggestion imho: PA players should request their online poker sites in PA to begin offering asap online satellites to bigger tourneys that can only be played in their b&m casinos. Ask yourself this - would you wind up not only of going to the b&m casino after winning the satellite but probably spending more money in general once there? If the answer is yes, maybe some of you can suggest those satellite ideas to your online licensee casino reps. If they can see that by experiencing it with more $$$ coming in, then other states can too where the b&m casinos currently have a lock on state politicians' ears and only think that online poker is a net negative for cash flows and profits.

I'm sure the operator will offer some sort of Live/Online Mix event once they have enough data where you have to play days 3 at the Casino. Adam Scharwtz mention something similar been offer in a PS or maybe PartyPoker event on his Podcast.