You are assuming the gambling meeting has something to do with the launch of poker. Lawmakers already gave the sites the go ahead to launch once they get approved by the regulators. There is no need to wait for a meeting.

Some good non poker related news. August 8th, 4pm @ Presque isle downs casino, they are having a grand opening celebration for BetAmerica sportsbook.

any actual poker yet? like wtf is going on here

No poker. Just silly slots unfortunately

I'm pretty sure Delaware took like a year for them to get a poker room going. I could be wrong but I remember them not having it set up for a while just like this. Just be glad your state didn't create a monopoly lol.

https://www.uspoker.com/blog/pa-onli...riority/26849/

So help me understand. Outside of the "No Firm Deadline" and "Possibly end of Summer" comments, was this just stated opinions from Matt Glantz?

How disappointing that an ambassador of the poker community would talk so lowly of Online Poker. "Boring", "Dead"... yes, the market is not where we would like it to be, but maybe if these companies would give a damn and invest in online poker things could become enjoyable/less boring and profitable. I look at the customer service and dont-give-a-shittery that WSOP puts into their online product and it just makes me sad.

Pool player bases and come up with new and exciting promotions and ideas and online poker becomes relevant again. Not poker boom relevant, but far from Dead.

This was really frustrating to read.

I agree with you. Online poker is dead because the us Government killed it. Its a bummer I'm hoping stars opens soon

Live stream of today's Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board meeting. Meeting is just now beginning.

Aug 14 PGCB Meeting Agenda

EDIT: There were some technical issues in first few minutes but the stream is now live on YouTube. You can follow along with what's being discussed via the Agenda page linked above.

EDIT#2: "Today's Board Meeting is experiencing Technical Delays / Issues" according to PGCB homepage.

Here is the new live stream link. The video link in the post above is incorrect I believe.



10:45am ET If you're following along on the Aug 14 PGCB Meeting Agenda, the Presque Isle Public Hearing just began.

11am ET Public hearing for Washington Trotting Association (Meadows) to modify its gaming floor is now beginning. This is the second of three PA land-based casino hearings in which executives are proposing a slight reduction in slot terminals on their respective gaming floors. Presque Isle's slot terminal reduction proposal is 2.6% -- currently awaiting info for how much of the slot offering might be reduced at Meadows. Reasons for gaming floor modifications are separate modifications to food & beverage offerings, designation of sportsbook spaces, etc.

My apologies for splitting these updates into separate posts. I believe there is a 30-minute edit time limit on each post.

11:07am ET Similar to Presque Isle, Meadows Casino does not anticipate any dip in revenue upon removing about 500 (out of approx. 3,000) slot terminals from its gaming floor. Meadows says that it hasn't had more than 75% concurrent occupancy of its slot terminals at any time during the 365-day period they analyzed. Meadows also plans to remove 3 blackjack tables, which will decrease the casino's total table games from 88 to 85.

For those who patronize Meadows in Washington, PA... have there traditionally been separate "non-smoking" and "smoking" areas or is a "smoking" section something that will soon be added?

11:25am ET Rivers Pittsburgh (Holdings Acquisition Co) hearing to modify its gaming floor is now beginning. PGCB Executive Director is scheduled to address the Board following this hearing. If there are any updates concerning PA online poker/iGaming, the Executive Director's part of the meeting is the most likely section where the updates will be discussed.

Rivers' gaming floor modifications are also tied to food & beverage (aka a "new restaurant"). Rivers testifying that reduction in land-based slot terminal offering does not negatively impact revenues (aka "Gross Terminal Revenue"). Proposed gaming floor modifications would be completed in 2020 calendar year. Hotel grand opening TBD 2020+. Rivers Pittsburgh is proposing removing 158 slot terminals from its gaming floor -- which represents "about 5.71% of our slots." Testimony that modern-day, land-based slot terminals are becoming larger, with cabinets that occupy more gaming floor space. Rivers testifying that it has benefited from increase in "bartop" slot machine offerings -- which have positively impacted slot GTR.

Yup except lhe highest stake at 5/10 for delaware and 888 nj. But there is plo/nl +10/20. Clearly they think lhe is too big of a game I guess

11:47am ET The issue of keeping smoke away from non-smoking patrons is once again a topic here in the Rivers Pittsburgh hearing. For those who frequent a lot of "smoking area" land-based businesses... is there any technology and/or floor plans you have seen that remove all smoke so that non-smoking patrons aren't bothered by it (and smoking patrons aren't bothered by non-smoking patrons griping about it)?

11:51am ET PA Treasury is bringing up concern that Pennsylvania land-based casinos are proposing removal of slot terminals as way to increase revenues. Pennsylvania Treasurer's office says state's casino expansion was just a "means to an end" to obtain "property tax." "They weren't here because we wanted to add new businesses to Pennsylvania." She finds it "very concerning" that PA land-based casinos are changing around their gaming areas by adding sportsbook and other offerings while reducing the number of slot terminals.

11:55am ET The monthly PGCB hearing is now at recess. PGCB Executive Director Kevin O' Toole is scheduled to be among the first to speak once the meeting reconvenes. There was an interesting comment just before recess that the younger demographic casinos are seeing with land-based sports books tend not to be smokers.

12:20pm ET PGCB Executive Director Kevin O' Toole is now addressing the Board. O' Toole begins by referencing the Hollywood/Parx/SugarHouse/Valley Forge. Retail sports wagering openings anticipated in upcoming weeks.

O' Toole states that Video Gaming Terminals (VGTs) at approved truck stops (PA law requires minimum annual diesel sales to obtain license) will also be rolled out soon.

Three new "self-exclusion" programs have been implemented. For iGaming, VGTs and Fantasy Contests. These efforts have been led by the Pennsylvania Office of Compulsive and Problem Gambling.

The Executive Director's report to the Board is complete.

No updates were provided regarding launch of any Pennsylvania online poker games.
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12:25pm ET PGCB chairman David Barasch has stipulated that the Board's approvals of slot machine reductions for Presque Isle, Meadows, and Rivers apply ONLY to that topic. The approvals do NOT apply to the overall smoking/non-smoking gaming floor modifications that were proposed during today's meeting. Those determinations will be made by the PGCB Executive Director.

The meeting is still ongoing, but most of what remains is enforcement of the involuntary exclusion list, employee licensure matters, etc. One such Gaming Employee Occupation Permit is being argued starting at 12:46pm ET. The employee is testifying that he currently possesses an equivalent permit in the state of New Jersey and continues to work there in a licensed capacity.

One such Gaming Employee Occupation Permit is being argued starting at 12:46pm ET. The prospective employee (table games dealer at Harrah's Philadelphia) is testifying that he currently possesses an equivalent permit in the state of New Jersey and continues to work there in a licensed capacity, and believes the Board should not deny his application in spite of a 2009 felony conviction. The PGCB Office of Enforcement Counsel argues that a minimum of 15 years must pass before someone with a felony conviction can be considered for a Gaming Employee Occupation Permit, in accordance with the Pennsylvania Race Horse and Gaming Development Act.

The Board, after consulting counsel, approves the PGCB-OEC recommendation to deny the permit to the prospective table games dealer.
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1:13pm ET the monthly PGCB meeting has concluded.
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Appreciated

You're very welcome. Here are some personal takeaways from today's meeting...

The fact that Pennsylvania casino regulators are broadcasting these meetings publicly is a game changer imo. A wide range of land-based casino enforcement issues (aka Involuntary Exclusion List or "Black Book") make it to the PGCB every month, and patrons are able to view how an official statewide, American-based gambling regulatory body addresses issues such as:

* administrative-level testimony concerning land-based and online casino matters
* gaming area changes/plans for land-based casinos
* voluntary self-exclusion and involuntary exclusion (aka "Black Book") scrutiny
* cross-jurisdiction (PA Liquor Control Board) of serving alcoholic beverages
* "bad actor" employees
* unauthorized access of minors to gaming areas
* data protection and software updates to prevent minors gaining access via fake IDs
* "credit sweeping" crimes
* land-based slot machine paytable adjustments

All this in my opinion gives players, media, industry pursuits, and the general public a new method for remaining informed about gambling/casino news in their respective geographical regions. If the trend of publicly casting commercial casino regulatory meetings continues, much of the general methodologies related to how/why casino companies make certain decisions will become common knowledge for all to review.
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Much like last month's PGCB meeting, the topics that most engaged the Board were tied to land-based casino remodeling/modifications of floor/access space.

Last month it was a proposed access ramp for a casino that hasn't been built yet.

This month it was determining the logistics and customer considerations for reducing the number of slot terminals in three PA casinos to make way for sportsbooks, restaurants, "smoking" areas, etc. The "slot reduction" plans (which were subsequently approved by the Board) drew criticism from the Pennsylvania Treasury office.

(Note that the overall plans for making space for sportsbooks/smoking areas/restaurants were NOT approved, only the plans for reducing the number of slot machines were approved)





Data from all three casinos who petitioned the Board (and received approval) to reduce the number of slot machine terminals testified that their data shows the reduction will NOT negatively impact each respective casino's GTR (Gross Terminal Revenue).

Meadows specifically testified that they never once experienced more than a 75% occupancy rate at their (currently 3,000) slots, for an entire 365-day period that they accrued this data. Meadows has received approval to reduce their total slot machines from approx. 3,000 to roughly 2,500.
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No update concerning any potential launch of Pennsylvania online poker was discussed.

The most recent commentary I've heard concerning potential PA online poker launch was earlier this month from Steve Ruddock, who did an interview with House of Cards.

Steve comments that geolocation issues are less of a burden these days and that Pennsylvania isn't experiencing the geolocation regulatory burdens that New Jeresey faced years ago when launching online casinos.

At 18:00, Steve says he doesn't believe PA online poker has been "excluded," but rather that online casino products could be a higher priority at this time. Steve also says that Pennsylvania is likely to one day seek a partnership with the MSIGA cross-state compact between NJ/NV/DE, but that the new USDOJ-OLC Wire Act opinion could delay any potential shared-liquidity partnership.

At 32:54, the topic of some casinos not being interested in offering online poker is broached. At 34:10, the topic of whether online casinos will benefit or compete with land-based commercial casinos is discussed. Cross-state customers choosing their favorite casinos plus b&m/online market crossover are also brought up, and at 36:05, Steve says that Parx was "griping" about having lost poker players in its land-based Pennsylvania casino years ago when New Jersey launched online poker.



The timestamps are spread out b/c of how the segments are arranged. Segments begin at 5:37, 13:30 and 30:00.
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Today is August 21, 2019 No information when any poker site will start to operate in PA. Any updates?

What the hell.

This is brutal.

How hard is it for Pokerstars to open?

This is what they do!

Plenty of rumors, speculation, and gossip that PokerStars (Mount Airy) could launch in Pennsylvania as soon as this coming week. It will be interesting to see if that's the case.

https://pokerfuse.com/news/poker-roo...-pennsylvania/

It will be interesting to see if they implement the 4 table max cap like row. Anyone know if NJ followed suite with the table max?

No table cap

Saying prayers in moon twp!!!!


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anyone heard anything? I went thru twitter last night could find anything new

TSG will first be launching FOXBET (sports betting) and that will be going live for testing on Sep 3 (according to PlayPennsylvania).

Online Poker may be launched after that possibly in September.