Timeline of Possible Regulated iPoker in Pennsylvania

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Saturday, October 7th, 2017 | Written by Shane Larson

Just over one week ago, there was renewed optimism that Pennsylvania was close to resolving a budgetary stalemate that has plagued the state for at least three months, thus paving the way for a land and online gambling expansion in the state. Unfortunately, discussions fell apart once again this week, but one positive takeaway is that both chambers expressed support for a proposed gambling expansion package, even as they failed to agree on a range of other remedies to their budgetary woes.

With the state legislature now on a break until October 16th, and a slight sense of optimism in the air that online gambling could be adopted by the Keystone State in the not so distant future, this seems an appropriate time to delve into the timeline of legalized online gambling in the US, and how the experiences of the country’s three regulated states could help Pennsylvania’s potential industry get off to a good start.

Delaware

In the summer of 2012, Delaware became the very first state to pass internet gambling legislation, followed one day later by the addition of online poker to its gambling mix. At that time, lawmakers had rather optimistically predicted that the Delaware lottery would have the whole industry set up and running within a six month period, but one year later, and there was still no online gambling available for Delawareans to enjoy.

Ultimately, the whole process soon picked up after Delaware formed a partnership with experienced gambling industry firms 888 Holdings and Scientific Games, eventually leading to the state launching a suitable iGaming framework on November 8th, 2013. Delaware’s three horse tracks were subsequently granted licenses to offer a range of products, including roulette, poker, blackjack, slots and video poker games.

In all likelihood, however, the process would have been a lot smoother and quicker had Delaware opted to partner with the gambling companies first, rather than rely upon the state lottery to launch the market. Pennsylvania, on the other, hand, intends to hand control of its potential iGambling industry to its existing gaming board, thus paving the way for a swifter launch to market than Delaware was able to accomplish

Nevada

Despite Nevada lagging being Delaware, and only signing internet gambling bill AB 114 into law on February 25th of 2013, Nevada’s online poker product actually hit the market first in April. Nevertheless, Nevada’s exploration of online gambling legislation started back in 2011 following the reinterpretation of the Federal Wire Act, with the extra two years required to get up and running enabling lawmakers to put a solid framework in place.

Land-based operator Station Casinos then became the first company to launch real-money regulated online poker in the US with its Ultimate Poker website in April. The move was premature, though, and just one year later the poker room shut shop. The Caesars Interactive Entertainment (CIE) website which launched in September 2013, however, has continued to operate successfully, with WSOP.com benefiting from the fact it had already been in operation overseas, with its software supplied by major gambling firm 888 Holdings.

Caesars lagged behind Delaware in launching its product on account of geolocation software concerns, but with subsequent improvements in the technology, Pennsylvania operators should be able to launch their sites almost straight away, although the state will probably need between 2-6 months to have the market fully ready for launch.

New Jersey

New Jersey passed online gambling legislation around a week after Nevada. However, New Jersey was prepared to allow both casino and online poker products to be offered in state, with the first sites then soft-launched in November of 2013, before fully launching on the 25th. Amongst the major brands subsequently acquiring licenses was the WSOP and 888 partnership, and a Borgata and partypokerNJ collaboration.

In the Spring of 2016, the game then changed after PokerStars was granted a New Jersey online gambling license, and since then it has grown to become the state’s biggest online poker operator. The following year, Pala and playMGM also launched poker sites, and currently monthly state online gambling revenues are averaging around $20 million, although poker represents a mere 10% of that tally.

Finally, New Jersey took around six months from adopting legislation to launching its market, with the Garden State providing a prime example of the model Pennsylvania should follow in the eventuality of legislation passing.