The number of Pennsylvania casinos that are getting ready to offer sports betting is up to two.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board confirmed to Legal Sports Report that the parent company of Philadelphia-area Parx Casino had submitted its petition to move forward with PA sports betting on Friday.
Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment also petitioned PA regulators to allow the company to have sports betting at the South Philadelphia Turf Club, an off-track betting facility.
Previously, Penn National had submitted a petition to the PGCB for sports betting earlier this month at Hollywood Casino, the first of the eligible casinos in the state to do so.
Parx is also one the first three casinos that got approval to move ahead on online casino and poker.
More on the new PA sports betting applications
If Greenwood gets its way, it will have two retail sportsbooks in the state as well as online betting. That means Greenwood would be willing to pony up the $10 million licensing fee and pay the 36 percent effective tax rate on sports betting revenue.
You can see the petitions below:
Greenwood at Turf Club Petition
GGE declared in its petition that sports betting is good for business:
This collective past experience and success clearly renders GGE qualified to conduct sports wagering. Based on its perfonnance to date, there can be no doubt that the conduct of sports wagering by GGE will significantly expand the positive economic impact the casino currently provides to the Commonwealth, its municipalities and residents.
The number of jobs it expects to create is redacted in the petition.
A Parx sportsbook coming soon?
From the sounds of things, Parx would like to be up and running in the near future, or at least before football season ends.
Finally, GGE respectfully urges the Board to review this Petition and grant its Certificate expeditiously so as to enable GGE to commence sports wagering in a timeframe that enables it to capture as much of the popular fall sports seasons and events as possible.
Penn National has indicated it desires a fall rollout for sports betting, as well. A PGCB meeting in October could shed some light on the immediate future of Pennsylvania sports betting.
Parx indicated that it wants to operate “a combination of land-based, mobile, and interactive sports wagering.” An online/mobile component will likely wait till later in 2018 or more likely 2019.
Sportsbooks outside of PA casinos?
Perhaps the most interesting thing to come out of the petitions is it appears there will be retail sportsbooks outside of the 12 casinos (13 once a new Philadelphia casino is built). According to the PGCB, since the turf club is a “non-primary” location, it falls under the umbrella of the licensure being obtained by GGE for Parx.
Greenwood also owns two other OTBs in the state, but no petitions for those locations were submitted. Penn National, for its part, owns OTB parlors in both York and Lancaster.
PA mini casinos — authorized as part of a 2017 gaming expansion in the state — could also be fair game for sports betting down the road as well.
