PA online casinos are up and running, and growing fast.

1. New Casino Sites July 2018 Events
2. New Casino Sites July 2018 Deals
3. New Casino Sites July 2018 Calendar Printable
4. New Casino Sites July 2018 Calendar
5. New Casino Sites July 2018

If you are 21 years or older and inside Pennsylvania state lines, you can now enjoy online slots, table games, and video poker from your desktop computer or mobile devices.

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This page contains all the information you need to start playing at online casinos in PA.

Below is a guide to the games you can play for free and for realmoney at PA online casinos. After that, you’ll find information on apps, bonuses, safety, and geolocationtechnology.

Regulated casinos also include protection for problem gamblers, which we cover at the end of this page.

Best online casinos in Pennsylvania 2021

New Casino Sites July 2018 Events

Real money and free online casino games in Pennsylvania

You can play most games at PA casinos online for fun. Playing games in demomode, or with play-money chips, allows you to find the titles you like before you gamble.

The only category of games that are notavailable for free play is live dealer table games. You can watch them, though you will not be able to wager on them – at least yet.

The current offerings on real money online casinos in PA are growing, and fast. Casino sites regularly add new games as they are approved by the PA Gaming Control Board (PGCB).

We offer an overview of how diverse these casino game categories are. Keep in mind that the most prominent New Jersey online casinos offer more than 600 titles.

Play PA online casino games for real money

The number of Pennsylvania online casinos is now in double-digits. All of the PA casino apps are available 24/7 and offer online slots, video poker, and table games such as roulette, blackjack, and baccarat. Use this table to compare the real money casinos in PA.

PA online slots

Slots are the biggest category of games for any online casino. You can expect to see over 200 games listed on some sites and you’ll need some way to sort the list of slot titles.

Firstly, casinos will feature their most popular games. You can use filters to search by, e.g., the number of reels, game developer, progressive jackpots, and so on.

If you enjoy live casino slots, then you will be able to play a lot of these online. You can search by name, or browse the listings for IGT, Bally, or another live slot studio.

Many online casinos feature classic games, e.g., Wheel of Fortune, Cleopatra, and WolfRun. You can also find traditional three-reel slots. Online slot studios like IGT created these.

When you browse the tiled graphics for slots to enjoy, you’ll see progressivejackpots listed underneath many of them. These pools can get massive, up to $1 million or more.

Table games at PA online casinos

Tablegames are a broad category, although it mostly covers all the casino games played on the greenfelt.

While most are card-based, dice and roulette wheels also fall under table games. Live dealer games are in this category; however, we will cover them separately.

This list is for the software-based versions:

New Casino Sites July 2018 Deals

• Blackjack: There are a lot of variations of basic blackjack rules. These include games with side bets, multi-hand games and entertaining variants like Blackjack Switch, Free Bet Blackjack, and Spanish 21.
• Roulette: You can bet your favorite numbers or try complex betting systems with online roulette. Where available, choose the European roulette wheel because the single zero reduces the house edge.
• Casino poker games: A lot of card-based table games use poker-hand rankings. Online casinos have Caribbean Stud, three-card poker, Ultimate Texas Hold ’em, Let It Ride, Pai Gow Poker, and Casino Hold ’em.
• Baccarat: Two of the three bets you can place in baccarat have a very low house edge. As long as you avoid the “tie” bet, this favorite among high rollers can be entertaining.
• Craps: With two betting phases and the chance to go on a hot streak as long as no 7s are rolled, craps is a lively live casino game. This appears at some online casinos, which gives you a chance to learn the complex bets.

Live dealer casinos in Pennsylvania

In other states, live dealer table games have become the go-to for many players and soon, they’ll be available in PA. With these, you’ll bet online although the action will be dealt in real-time from studios in PA live casinos. Bets will settle automatically.

Games available include blackjack (where you play on a seven-handed table), roulette, three-card poker, Casino Hold ’em, and baccarat.

Keep in mind, you need to act before the timer runs down in these games. Otherwise, your hand will be folded (or you’ll stand), depending on the game.

You can chat via text with the dealers and other players while you play. The added social element, plus the ability to watch the cards being dealt, make these increasingly popular games.

Video poker and novelty games

PA casinos allow you to play video poker games online. These include bonus poker and multi-hand variations, as well as traditional titles.

Pennsylvania online casino apps

There are pros and cons to online casino apps compared to mobile-friendly websites.

With apps, you often find only a limited number of game titles, along with account and cashier functionality. Compared to the hundreds of games you can play on your browser, this is a significant drawback.

On the positive side, having the graphics stored on your phone helps the games initialize faster. If you have ever had to wait for a bonus game to load on your mobile device after you hit it on a slot, you know how frustrating this can be.

Are the online casinos in Pennsylvania safe?

All online casinos in PA are licensed and under the jurisdiction of the PennsylvaniaGaming Control Board (PGCB).

Players are protected by know your customer (KYC) guidelines and responsible gaming laws. The games are tested for integrity and fairness. A complaint and dispute process is available if necessary.

When it comes to Pennsylvania online casinos, you really can’t get any safer.

The PGCB stated early in the licensing process that they have a deliberate, slow approach. This includes testing periods for new apps and websites. With the licenses for online casinos in Pennsylvania held by local live casinos and racetrack casinos, you’ll have trusted brand names behind each of the apps.

A major concern for players new to casino games is the fairness of the spins or deals. At regulated casinos, games are regularly audited and the expected return-to-player (RTP) percentages are published. While each game has a small edge in favor of the house, you can be sure that you are getting a fair shot at winning and it’s in line with the published figures.

Casino bonus offers in Pennsylvania

With a lot of real money online casinos opening in PA in quick succession, you can be sure they will be competing to attract new players.

This means 2021 is a perfect time to take advantage of their marketing budgets. Casino bonuses take four primary forms, and not every casino will offer them all. If not, the bonuses they do offer will need to be generous.

Here are the main types of casino bonuses:

• No-deposit welcome bonus: A popular way to attract new players is to offer free play for registering. This bonus is usually a small amount (between $10 and $25). You’ll need to wager it a number of times before you can withdraw it. These offers can start your casino bankroll, if you get lucky. If not, then you’ll have a chance to check out the real-money slot titles without any personal risk.
• Matched deposit bonuses: This is the most common form of a casino welcome bonus in PA. Your first deposit will be matched 100%, usually up to around $300, though sometimes much higher. You then get 30 to 60 days to meet the specified playthrough (wagering) requirements.
• Loyalty/comp point schemes: Some casinos will tie their online comp point schemes together with their live casino. Others have separate schemes, with complex tier systems unlocking progressively bigger bonuses. For high rollers, these loyalty schemes often have a VIP level, too.
• One-off promotions: How active a casino is with promos can make a big difference to your bankroll over time. These vary widely, and include double points deals, reload bonuses, promos linked to new games and free chips for sharing on social media.

While nothing is stopping you from taking up several casino bonuses, keep in mind that these are restricted to one per household for each casino. Many players have been tempted to sign up their entire family for a free-play offer only to find their accounts to be closed down quickly.

Licensed and legal PA casinos vs. offshore casinos

For many years, the only way to play online casino games in Pennsylvania was to risk your money at offshore casinos. While there were some limited legal options with sweepstakescasinos, the new legal PA internet casinos effectively remove the need to take this risk.

Offshore casinos are usually based in the Caribbean or Central America and their legal status is uncertain. While their host nation licenses them, they are not recognized or licensed by any US authority and our banks are legally obliged to block payments to them.

A greater concern is the lack of oversight and controls. Many offshore casinos have disappeared over the years, and many players have faced significant issues getting their winnings paid. If you have a dispute with an offshore casino, there is no industry body or organization to help you.

With PA casinos under the watchfuleye of the PGCB, they are licensed to accept conventional payment methods and thoroughly tested. There is no longer any reason to risk playing at an offshore site.

Geolocation and PA casinos

You will be able to access the PA online casinos fromanywhere. However, playing games for real money and making deposits can only be made within PA state lines.

Pennsylvania casinos will not allow real-money play if there is any doubt about your location. In New Jersey, this led to a lot of “falsenegatives.” Players who were on mobile devices near state borders were sometimes flagged as being outside of the state.

Fortunately, those initial problems were ironed out and geolocation technology is more reliable.

If you are using a VPN or proxyserver, you might still experience issues. Mobile users on 4G and close to the state border who experience problems can download additionalgeolocationsoftware in some cases.

Wi-Fi data is difficult to fake, and if you are not using a VPN, desktop players are unlikely to experience geolocation issues.

PA casinos eligible to offer online gambling in Pennsylvania

In total, there are 13 licensed casinos that can legally offer online casino games, including slots and blackjack.

• Harrah’s Philadelphia
• Hollywood Casino
• Meadows Casino
• Mohegan Sun Pocono
• Mount Airy Casino Resort
• Nemacolin Woodlands Resort
• Parx Casino
• Presque Isle Downs
• Rivers Casino Pittsburgh
• Rivers Casino Philadelphia (formerly SugarHouse Casino)
• Wind Creek Casino Resort (formerly Sands Bethlehem)
• Valley Forge Resort Casino
• Live! Casino Philadelphia

In the first month of 2020, FanDuel Casino, BetAmerica, and BetRivers Casino launched just before the Super Bowl. The long-awaited Caesars Online Casino in partnership with Harrah’s Philadelphia followed in April.

Rivers Philadelphia (Formerly SugarHouse Casino) was the first brick-and-mortar casino to offer two different online casino skins under its casino license: PlaySugarHouse and BetRivers. The latter is integrated with the Rivers Pittsburgh online sportsbook that carries the same BetRivers name. Rivers Casino Pittsburgh did not obtain an online casino license.

On May 1, 2020, DraftKings Online Casino went live, becoming the second interactive gaming site under the Hollywood Casino license. Meadows, DraftKings’ land-based partner for online sports betting, does not hold an online casino license. But both Meadows and Hollywood are owned by Penn National Gaming, which has a market-access deal with DraftKings.

FanDuel and DraftKings originally launched online casinos that were integrated with their sportsbooks. Now, both have stand-alone online casino apps live in PA.

In late July 2020, Wind Creek Bethlehem dove into the online betting scene, launching the Wind Creek online casino through a partnership with Pala Interactive. PlayLive! online casino followed in August, and BetMGM online casino and sportsbooks debuted in PA in December 2020.

Borgata online casino went live in PA, the first market for the brand outside of NJ, in February 2021 in partnership with Rivers Philadelphia.

Live Pennsylvania casinos

There are currently 14 licensed gambling properties in the state of Pennsylvania with the latest additions of Live! Pittsburgh and Live! Philadelphia.

According to PGCB, this includes 11 stand-alone and racetrack casinos (Category 1 and 2), two smaller resort casinos (Category 3), and one Category 4 “mini-casino” – Live! Casino Pittsburgh. These gaming establishments employ approximately 18,000 people and generate close to $1.4 billion in tax revenue annually.

Mini-casinos: The next phase of Pennsylvania casino development

As part of its gambling expansion law passed in October 2017, the state had the ability to issue up to tenCategory 4 licenses. These licenses allow for mini-casinos with 300-750 slots. A supplemental license costing $2.5 million allows these satellite casino properties to offer up to 30 table games as well.

The process for the issuance of mini-casino licensing involves a series of auctions. The preliminary auctions began in January 2018 and were limited only to the licensed Category 1 and 2 casinos. The first license went to Penn National, who spent $50.1 million to secure a location 50 miles south of its existing Hollywood Casino. During the first round of auctions, PGCB awarded five licenses.

The PGCB ran a second round of auctions on Sept. 3, 2019 but there were no bidders. In Sept. 2020, the PGCB opened bidding for one license and Ira Lubertwon it for $10,000,101. He plans to build in Centre County, near State College, PA. In all, $124 million in license fees were raised.

Pennsylvania problem gambling support

A system for self-exclusion for problemgamblers is available at live casinos in Pennsylvania.

This program involves filling out some forms, providing a photo ID, and voluntarily requesting one-year, five-year or lifetime exclusion.

A list of excluded people is distributed to all live casinos. Then it is the casinos’ responsibility is to prevent those people from entering gaming areas.

Removal from this list (for the shorter periods) does not happen automatically. After the period expires, individuals must request their removal personally.

Online gambling prevents new challenges when it comes to the management of problem gambling. For the majority to enjoy safe gambling online, support systems need to be in place for players who experience issues.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Commission manages this support program.

Here is what legal Pennsylvania online casinos must provide:

• A prominentlink to their responsible gambling information page.
• Tools for time-out, self-exclusion and betting limits.
• A list of questions to assess whether you or someone you know has a gambling problem.
• Links to support organizations and therapists.

Support programs in the state include:

Overview of Pennsylvania’s casino industry

The Pennsylvania casino industry is relatively young. Casinos only became legal in 2004. Yet, in the dozen or so years in existence, the industry quickly became a powerhouse. Now it is the second-largest commercial casino industry in the country judging by gross revenue, trailing only Nevada.

Thanks to steep tax rates, Pennsylvania casinos actually generate more tax revenue for the state than Nevada does. That number has gotten even bigger thanks to the gambling expansion law passed in the fall of 2017.

Here is a look at the history of the Pennsylvania casino industry, starting with the latest news and moving back towards the casino industry’s more humble beginnings:

The year began on a high, but that soon changed as the spread of COVID-19 led to the shuttering of all retail casinos and racetracks in PA by mid-March. That meant furloughs for casino employees and falling casino stock prices.

Online sportsbooks were also hit hard, with most sports sidelined for a lengthy period of time.

On a positive note, three more online casinos joined the market before the Super Bowl. The FanDuel online casino made quite a splash, surging to highest handle and revenue earner after its first full month in February.

The long-awaited Caesars sportsbook went live on March 10 in partnership with Harrah’s Philadelphia, bringing the state’s online sports betting apps to a total of nine. The Caesars online casino followed on April 23, making it nine internet casinos too. An online poker room under the WSOP.com name is expected to follow.

On May 1, DraftKings added an online casino product to its established online sportbook. Its online casino product is under the Hollywood Casino license, while the DraftKings sportsbook partners with Penn’s other PA property, The Meadows. Both FanDuel and DraftKings later debuted standalone online casino apps in June and July, respectively.

Wind Creek launched its first online product with an online casino in late July, and Live! Casino brought PlayLive! online casino to PA in mid-August. Live! was the only casino to launch iGaming ahead of retail openings which followed in early 2021.

BetMGM also launched an online sportsbook and online casino in December 2020, the former in partnership with Hollywood Casino Morgantown and the latter under the Hollywood Casino at Penn National license.

New Casino Sites July 2018 Calendar Printable

Online wagering sparked and sportsbooks blossomed.

With sportsbooks, there were just three operations at the beginning of the year, and all were retail. By the end of the year, the Keystone State had 12 retail sportsbooks.

But eight online sportsbooks were also running by year’s end, with around 84% of all sports wagering done online. Taken together, sports betting took in more than a billion bucks in 2019.

Five online casino sites went live, the first ones launching in July, though a new Wire Act opinion likely slowed that market segment at the start.

And at long last, an online poker site finally launched. On Nov. 4, FOX Bet was joined by PokerStars Casino and PokerStars PA, making poker a reality in the Keystone State.

In October 2019, SugarHouse changed its name to Rivers Casino Philadelphia, but not before launching the first PA online sportsbook in May. PlaySugarHouse sportsbook and online casino still retain the SugarHouse name.

After a summer of bickering, the state legislature drafted a new version of the gambling expansion package, which both the House and Senate passed. Gov. Tom Wolf signed it into law on Monday, Oct. 30, 2018. The new law allows for a wide range of new gambling ventures, including:

• Online casinos
• Video gambling terminals (VGTs)
• Daily fantasy sports (DFS)
• Satellite casinos
• Sports betting

It also offered a new class of license eliminating the amenity fee in place at Valley Forge and Lady Luck Nemacolin. Valley Forge paid the fee immediately after the bill became law.

New licensing fees brought in more than $311 million for the state.

The PA Lottery launched several new games and created the online platform iLottery.

A US Supreme Court ruling allowed sports wagering to begin and nine of 12 properties immediately applied for licenses.

Total gambling revenue topped $3.4 billion.

Legislation which would legalize and regulate online gambling in Pennsylvania, and offer online gaming licenses to the state’s 12 casino properties first, was passed by the Senate. In June 2017 it was amended and passed by the House, sending it back to the Senate.

The law was approved at the end of October.

The law ushered in sportsbook wagering and video game terminals at truck stops, and a new category of “mini-casinos” was created. As part of the expansion, horse racing money from casino slot revenue was encumbered in a trust fund. The slot money was originally set aside as part of the deal which led to the 2004 approval of casinos.

Casinos set a revenue record of $3.227 billion.

Lady Luck Casino Nemacolin opened in July 2013.

Valley Forge Casino Resort opened its doors in March 2012 becoming the first Category 3 licensed casino in Pennsylvania.

After several ownership changes and failed financing plans with no construction to date, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board voted to revoke the Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia gaming license in December 2010.

SugarHouse Casino opened its first phase in Philadelphia in September 2010.

Pennsylvania passed a law in January 2010, authorizing table game operations at the state’s licensed racino, casino, and resort casino properties. The law also clarified the size and scope of gaming and other operations at the state’s three different categories of gaming licensees, including:

• Allowing up to 250 table games and 5,000 slot machines at Category 1 racino facilities
• Allowing 250 table games and 5,000 slot machines at Category 2 stand-alone casinos. These properties were also authorized to operate amenities including restaurants, spas, and entertainment options, but not hotels.
• Allowing up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games at Category 3 resort casinos. These gaming facilities can include attached hotels.

Parx Casino standalone gaming facility opened its doors in December .

Rivers Casino opened in Pittsburgh, PA’s Chateau neighborhood along the Ohio River in September.

Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem opened on the Bethlehem Works development site in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in May 2009. Table games were added in July 2010. The property officially changed ownership to the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in June 2019. The casino is now known as Wind Creek Bethlehem.

Hollywood Casino opened at Penn National racetrack in February 2008.

Mount Airy Casino Resort officially opened in the Poconos in November 2007, becoming the first Pennsylvania casino with lodging.

The Meadows Casino began as a temporary casino adjacent to the racetrack in Washington County, PA in June 2007. The permanent casino opened in 2009.

Presque Isle Downs casino and horse racing track near Erie, Pennsylvania opened in February 2007.

A slots parlor began operation at Harrah’s Philadelphia racetrack on the Chester waterfront. Table games went live at the property in 2010.

Parx Casino opened as a temporary gaming facility at the former Philadelphia Park racetrack in December 2006.

Foxwoods Casino Philadelphia is granted one of five stand-alone casino licenses for a soon-to-be-built property located along the Delaware River in South Philadelphia. The project fell apart, resulting in PGCB revoking the license in 2010.

Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs became the state’s first slot parlor after opening its doors in November 2006 at a harness track near Wilkes-Barre.

State lawmakers made a number of amendments to horse track security bill authorizing both the use of 61,000 slot machines at racetracks and other new casino locations across Pennsylvania. Lawmakers rushed the bill through the House and Senate over the Fourth of July weekend, then quickly became law before any real opposition to casino gambling had a chance to oppose it.

The bill ultimately authorized the issue of three separate categories of slot machine licenses. These included:

• Category 1 for existing racetracks.
• Category 2 for designated tourist areas, including two in Philadelphia and one in Pittsburgh.
• Category 3 for resorts.

Former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell runs for Pennsylvania Governor. He wins on a campaign that includes support for the idea of allowing slot machines at racetracks in an effort to lower property taxes.

Under Then-Governor Tom Ridge the State Legislature came close to legalizing riverboat casinos. The state’s anti-gambling movement began to grow and Gov. Ridge said he would veto any gambling bill not approved by referendum. Eventually the entire idea was scrapped.

A statewide survey found 48 percent of Pennsylvania residents supported legalized riverboat gambling and just 38 percent were opposed. However, Then-Governor Robert P. Casey claimed to be opposed to gambling and threatened to veto any gambling legislation passed in the state.

First developed under Philadelphia Mayor Wilson Goode, and championed by mayoral successor Ed Rendell, a proposal to allow riverboat gambling in Philadelphia made it to the state legislature. The claim was it would create $25 million in new revenue for the city and 11,500 new jobs. However, the House of Representatives voted against it in November by a margin of 118-81.

Resorts Casino Hotel opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey, becoming the first legal casino in Atlantic City. Resorts and the rest of the Atlantic City Boardwalk is within 60 miles of Philadelphia. It quickly become evident that Pennsylvania residents are some of the budding Atlantic City casino industry’s best customers.

New Casino Sites July 2018 Calendar

According to The American Gaming Association (AGA), the gambling industry in the US is worth $261 billion and supports 1.8 million jobs in 40 states (1); however, gambling has had a difficult (and illegal) history in the USA and it is just up until now that the path is being cleared.

Several anti-gambling laws have been in place since the great depression and gaming has been heavily regulated ever since. Some of those regulations haven’t been updated since the 60’s. Despite this, the widespread use of the internet (and online casinos) have made the betting scene change notably and laws have started to shift (2).

Today, the industry faces a rapid growth and increased revenue moving away from the stigma it once held, making it easier for people to access online gaming and betting.

Gambling Revenues in the USA

USA gambling revenues increased to over $160 billion in 2018. Now that sports betting is legal, most gaming experts and financial analysts predict the total revenues for US betting each year will top $200 billion. Whether it’s a lottery ticket, slot machines, sports bets, bingo, or poker, Americans love to gamble.

As each year passes, US state governments expand legalized and regulated games of chance, which encourages more gambling. 2018 was no different. Below is a breakdown of the revenue generated by each form of betting each year.

US commercial casinos generated $41.2 billion in 2017, a 3.7% increase year-to-year from 2016 and a new record for gross gaming revenues for US commercial casinos. New casinos in Maryland and New York added to the increased revenues in 2017. MGM National Harbor in Maryland was the most successful new casinos, but Del Lago Resorts, Rivers Casino, and Resorts World Catskills in New York state also contributed.

In all, commercial casinos generated $51,395,562,664 in revenues in 2018. The total represents a 3.5% increase over 2017. Commercial casinos sustained 737,450 jobs and paid $34.334 billion in worker income. The Las Vegas Strip generated $6.59 billion in gaming revenues in 2018, making it the top destination. Atlantic City came in second with $2.51 billion, which shows a strong 5-year bounce back from its $2.1 billion in 2014. Chicagoland, Baltimore-Washington DC, and New York City finished 3rd, 4th, and 5th among commercial casino markets.

The National Indian Gaming Council still has not released full tribal casino statistics, so the NIGC’s 2016 gross gaming revenues are the most recent official revenue statistics. In 2016, America’s tribal casinos generated $31.195 million in gross gaming revenues. That is up nearly $1.3 billion from 2015, which itself increased $1.4 billion from 2014. If one projected similar growth year-to-year from 2016 to 2017, one might expect to see gross gaming revenues in the range of $33.3 billion for 2017. To avoid speculation, we list the 2016 official statistics. The NIGC releases the previous year’s figures in June or July each year, so check back for the latest results.

Tribal casinos generated $32.801 billion in 2018 — a 3.5% increase over 2017. At its current pace, the tribal casino industry should overtake commercial casino revenues by the year 2030. Like the commercial gambling industry, a handful of tribal casinos launched sportsbooks.

The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians opened sports betting at their three land-based casinos, while the Pueblo of Santa Ana opened a sportsbook at Santa Ana Star Casino near Albuquerque, New Mexico. The bookmakers’ success could open the door for many other tribal sportsbooks across the United States.

Nevada poker room revenues showed less than 1% growth, as gross gaming revenues were $118.46 million. The 2017 poker rake was $117.7 million. The Nevada figures were a minor miracle, considering that several Nevada poker rooms closed in the past year. MGM Resorts closed the Mirage poker room in February 2017, while the Hard Rock Las Vegas poker room closed in March 2017 and Luxor cardroom closed in May 2017. (The cardrooms for the Linq, Eastside Cannery, The Plaza, and Aliante Casino closed in 2016.)

Atlantic City’s seven poker rooms added $28.38 million in gross gaming revenues in 2017. Pennsylvania’s live poker revenues equaled $60 million. MGM National Harbor in Maryland collected $44.5 million in poker rake alone last year, which was the vast bulk of Maryland poker revenues in 2017. New York’s new live poker rooms, on the other hand, contributed only $6.7 million to the nation’s live poker revenue total. It is difficult to calculate accurately the live poker revenues for America’s 6,100+ live poker rooms. Tribal casinos contain many card rooms and they do not have to report their earnings to states. Thus, it is likely that some poker revenues might be listed under tribal casino statistics.

Nevada poker rooms increased their total rake from $118.45 million to $120.1 million. On the other hand, Atlantic City poker revenues dropped from $28.38 million in 2017 to $27.028 million in 2018. Pennsylvania’s live poker revenues remained in the $60 million range. MGM National Harbor remained high with over $45 million in poker rake, while the New York state live card rooms continued with a week haul with a little over $7 million in revenues. As always, it’s difficult to gauge total poker revenues, because tribal casinos include their poker rake with their other casino games.

Ultimately, the official US poker room revenues remained steady at $1.9 billion. 2018 showed the US poker industry holding steady after two years of decline. Fewer Las Vegas casinos have card rooms than they did ten years ago, but 2018 did not have any major Vegas poker rooms close. 2016 and 2017 showed a marked decline. MGM Resorts closed the Mirage poker room in February 2017, Hard Rock Las Vegas’s poker room closed in March 2017, and the Luxor cardroom closed in May 2017. In 2016, the cardrooms for The Plaza, the LINQ, Eastside Cannery, and Aliante Casino closed. Still, the United States has over 6,100 poker rooms, so the revenue stream remained steady throughout 2018.

US online gambling produced $247.5 million in revenues in 2017. New Jersey’s online gambling industry continues to grow. In 2017, the combined revenue of Atlantic City’s online casinos and poker sites was $245 million. That’s a 21% increase from 2016 when New Jersey’s iGaming niche generated $195 million. Delaware added only $2.4 million in online gambling revenues, which was an 18% decline.

Mike Lawton of the Nevada Gaming Control Board said online poker revenues are included in total poker revenues for the state, so it is hard to get official statistics for Nevada online poker. Given the fact, only two Nevada online poker sites exist and state regulators try to hide the small revenue stream, one can assume Nevada’s iPoker stats are tiny. Nevada has about twice the online gamblers as Delaware, so $5 million is a safe assumption. Those poker revenues are not included in our figures, though, because they are included in Nevada’s overall poker stats.

New Casino Sites July 2018

New Jersey grabbed the lion’s share of legal US online gambling revenues in 2018 with $298.7 million. Five years into its experiment with online gambling, New Jersey’s online casino and poker portals continue to grow apace. Delaware and Nevada both have regulated online poker, but despite the Multi-State Internet Gambling Association (MSIGA), their revenues were negligible. Pennsylvania will be a huge factor in 2019, but its online poker and casino industry was still getting off the ground in 2018.

Interstate online gambling faces a severe test in 2019. The U.S. Department of Justice declared in January 2019 that interstate online poker is illegal under federal law, striking a blow to the MSIGA pact between Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey. The New Hampshire Lottery sued because its online lotto ticket sales are endangered by the 2019 DOJ opinion, while New Jersey and Pennsylvania filed their own lawsuit to protect their online poker and casino industries. Whatever happens with the legal cases, US online gambling revenue growth should be significant in the coming year, because Pennsylvania’s iGaming industry launches.

Like the tribal casino revenues, compiling an official list of lottery revenues takes a bit longer each year, because of the patchwork of state-run lotteries and multistate lottery associations. In 2016, US lottery ticket sales were $80.5 billion. The projected figures for 2017 are expected to exceed $85 billion, due to upticks in the sale of scratchcards and the increases in the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpot sizes. Scratch-off tickets are the biggest contributor, with the Powerball and Mega Millions multi-state lottery association games contributing the second and third-most to the revenue pool.

New York state had the biggest lottery ticket sales, with over $10 billion. California, Florida, Massachusetts, and Texas were next in line. Each of those four states had between $5 billion and $6.5 billion in lottery sales.

The combined revenues of US lotteries for 2018 sit around the $72 billion mark. The U.S. Census Bureau releases the official lottery revenue statistics each year. So far, the Census Bureau has not released official 2018 lottery revenues. The 2017 lottery total was $71.826 billion, while the 2016 lottery statistics were $72.649 billion. That shows a regression of nearly $800 million from 2016 to 2017, though that number reflects a statistical anomaly in lottery drawings more than a loss of interest in the state and multistate lotteries.
State politicians are leery of allowing legal online gambling, though, because they fear it would harm lottery sales. Departing Michigan Gov. Bill Snyder vetoed an online poker and casino bill in December 2018, because he said lottery taxes are higher and iGaming would hurt lottery sales (thus tax revenues). Given the recent trends, it’s a safe bet that US lottery revenues in 2018 were around $72 billion for the year. Mega Millions and Powerball drawings continue to dominate national attention, while their revenues increase year to year.

The revenue figures for US legal sportsbooks came from Nevada and Delaware in 2017. Nevada bookmakers won $248 million from sports bettors in 2017, which was a record year. New forms of betting on eSports helped, though the growing impact of William Hill USA on the Nevada sports betting scene helped. Even hockey betting was up in 2017, thanks to the inclusion of the Las Vegas Golden Knights to the NHL. The Golden Knights’ surprising first-year performance helped drive local sports betting, though it was general NFL, Super Bowl, MLB, NBA, and March Madness betting which generated the most revenues.

Delaware, which had legalized sports lotteries, generated the remaining $6 million in sports betting revenues. Delaware’s sports lotteries require players to make parlay bets of 3 or more games. Delaware sportsbook revenues should increase significantly in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s repeal of the PASPA sports betting ban. Delaware plans to open legal sportsbooks at Dover Downs, Delaware Park, and Harrington Raceway on June 5, 2018. New Jersey sportsbooks at the Atlantic City casinos and Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport should follow suit quickly. US sports betting revenues should have a big jump in 2018.

Given the landmark US Supreme Court decision to strike down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) as unconstitutional, US sports betting revenues increased significantly. Several states (New Jersey, Delaware, Mississippi, West Virginia) legalized sports betting in the months after the May 14 SCOTUS decision. Led by New Jersey, the new sports gambling jurisdictions generated $129.6 million in a little over 6 months of activity.

Meanwhile, Nevada benefited from the additional media coverage given to sportsbooks, so it generated $301.0 million. In all, the legal US sports betting industry generated $430.6 million in revenues – a $182 million increase from 2017. The number should increase significantly in 2019, when New Jersey and Mississippi feature a full year of sportsbook operations. Pennsylvania bookmakers also launched in late 2018 and early 2019, which should boost numbers greatly.

Pari-mutuel racebooks generated $300 million in revenues in 2018. Pari-mutuel wagering is the legal term for betting on horse racing and dog racing. Bettors receive winning for the thoroughbreds, harness racers, or greyhounds which finish in the top three of a particular race (win-show-place). Pari-mutuel wagering also includes a variety of trifecta bets and parlay bets, which pay out more, but hit for the bettor less often.

Dog racing now is allowed in only 5 US states, as the Florida electorate voted to ban greyhound racing (Amendment 13) in the coming years. Most greyhound tracks continue to act as off-track betting facilities (OTBs), offering simulcasting and wagers at over 200 race venues worldwide. Churchill Downs, site of the annual Kentucky Derby, continues to generate almost 60% of the racebook revenue ($175 million) in the United States. Besides the world-famous Louisville-area horse track, Churchill Downs Incorporated owns racetracks and even a few land-based casinos across the United States.

The US pari-mutuel racebook industry must find new ways to drive customers or die a slow death in America. Race betting declined significantly in the past generation due to competition from the lottery, tribal casinos, online casinos, and mobile betting. After the US Supreme Court repealed the federal ban on sports betting (PASPA) in May 2018, sports betting should grow significantly in the coming 5 to 10 years. US pari-mutuel racebooks face another major competitor, so they’ll need to find innovative ways to bet on horse and dog racing or that $300 million total will decline.

For generations, charitable bingo halls have generated cash for civic organizations, veterans groups, religious groups, fraternal organizations, firefighters, and other charity organizations. Charitable bingo remains a major focus, but organizations also hold raffles, poker nights, and sell pull-tab games to the public.

As lottery betting and tribal casinos have increased over the past two decades, charitable gaming and bingo participation has decreased in many states. Charitable gaming is a major source of fundraising for nonprofit organizations in the United States. The numbers haven’t declined across the board, as Michigan’s poker nights (millionaires clubs) increased greatly from 2002 to 2012, due to making it easier to attain a charitable gaming license. Even in Michigan, though, the decline since 2012 has been significant. Meanwhile, Minnesota increased its charitable gaming revenues significantly, as part of a plan to fund the Minnesota Vikings’ football stadium.

As the US population has increased in the past 16 years, the number of charitable organizations holding bingo nights and raffles has increased. That means the overall decline in charitable gaming revenues was slight, from $2.2 billion to $2.15 billion, though the decline in revenue-per-venue and real money value due to inflation is stark.

Each US state organizes and regulates charitable gaming in their own way. Groups pays taxes to the states, but otherwise remain coy about their fundraising. Different states have different terms for their games (Millionaire’s clubs, pickle games, fish games), which adds to the confusion. This makes a completely accurate total of charitable gaming revenues more an estimate than an official tally. Charitable gaming revenues stayed in the $2.1 billion range for 2018.

What Is Online Gambling in the US?

The gambling industry in the United States is the sum total of all forms of legal betting. US gambling includes commercial and tribal casinos, state and multistate lotteries, sportsbooks and racebooks, real money online casinos and poker sites, as well as charitable gaming and bingo halls.

US gambling statistics do not include unregulated online gambling, local bookies, organized poker games in your neighborhood, office pools, fantasy leagues, or March Madness brackets. Because such gaming is unregulated and untaxed, it is hard to get accurate statistics for them. The American Gaming Association and other groups estimate yearly betting turnover of illegal gambling, but the AGA’s data is an educated guess.

In this US gambling report, Online United States Casinos stick to the facts. Most of the statistics below are compiled from state regulatory agencies. Each month, gaming commissions, gaming control boards, and state lotteries across the United States produce gambling statistics. We’ve collected the latest gaming data and compiled it into several gambling categories, which we present below.

Is Gambling Legal in the US?

Many forms of gambling are legal in the United States, but no form of gambling is legal everywhere. Because the United States is a constitutional republic with a federated system of government, the USA is a patchwork of state and federal gaming laws. That makes gambling legality complicated in the United States. What it does mean is Americans who love to bet can find places to live with permissive gambling laws, while Americans who dislike gambling can find states where gambling is 100% banned.

US gambling laws are complicated because each state deals with its own gaming interests and social mores. Nevada is the most pro-gambling states in the United States, as Las Vegas and Reno are gambling destinations. At the same time, Nevada is one of a handful of states which bans lotteries — because it would compete with the billion-dollar resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. Kentucky bans casino betting, though it is the center of the United States horse racing (and horse betting) industries.

As a general rule, legalized gambling has expanded greatly in the past 25 to 30 years. After the Indian Gambling Regulation Act of 1988, tribal casinos expanded to 28 states. California and Oklahoma are two US states with huge tribal gaming industries, but dozens of others exist. The expansion of tribal gaming caused US states to liberalize their commercial casino industries, so states like Illinois, Ohio, Arizona, and Kansas expanded casinos greatly. Pennsylvania legalized casino betting at racetracks and now collects more gaming tax revenues than any states besides Nevada.

Lottery gambling has grown exponentially, too. The Powerball and Mega Millions have the biggest lottery jackpots in the world. State lotteries’ scratch-card tickets generate the most tax revenue. Meanwhile, online and mobile casino gambling and poker betting has grown in popularity. While many Internet gaming sites are unregulated, legal online/mobile gambling exists in 4 states and is expected to be legalized in other US states in the coming years.

Utah and Hawaii are the only two US states which have a 100% ban on all forms of gambling. In Utah or Hawaii, you can’t visit a casino, buy a lottery ticket, make a sports bet, or even play in a bingo hall. All 48 other U.S. states have some form of legalized gambling. In the USA, many southern states restrict gambling significantly, because of the social conservative values in many states. Despite that general statement, all southern states can’t be pegged as anti-gambling.

Alabama bans gambling (even lotteries) in anything but tribal casinos, while Mississippi has dozens of casinos on the Gulf Coast and Tunica County. South Carolina bans most forms of gambling, while Florida allows expanded gambling for the Seminole Tribe and even 8 counties throughout the state. Texas bans all but lottery betting and horse racing, while its neighbors, Oklahoma and Louisiana, allow casino betting; Texans flock to those casinos.

Types of Gambling

Readers might be wondering about the types of gambling that takes place inside the United States. Below is a glossary list of the betting opportunities Americans have, along with a quick description of each form of gambling. We provide revenue data for each type below.

• Commercial Casinos: Owned by private companies and publicly-traded companies alike. Commercial casinos can be land-based casinos, riverboat casinos, airport casinos, racetrack-casinos (racinos), or casino cruises. Many have Class III or Las Vegs-style slot machines, while others use Class II Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) or Video Gambling Terminals (VGTs).
• Tribal Casinos: Owned by Native American tribal gaming authorities and based on Indian reservation lands. A landmark 1986 US Supreme Court case (Cabazon v. California) stated Native American reservations are sovereign lands (and thus able to house casinos) if they were recognized by the US Department of the Interior’s Indian Affairs Bureau by 1934 or before. The Cabazon case led to the US Congress passing the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which says Indian tribes which reach a gaming compact with the states they are inside can have casino gambling with Class II slot machines. States can tax tribal casinos for the cost of regulation but can tax more, if the state gives special concessions like statewide monopolies on certain gaming types.
• Card Rooms: Card rooms can exist inside or outside a land-based casino. Many Las Vegas Strip casinos and Atlantic City have their own poker rooms. In certain states, commercial card rooms or poker clubs exist. The Bicycle Club, Hollywood Park Casino, and Cameo Club in Los Angeles are a few examples of private card rooms. Tribal casinos like WinStar World Casino, Choctaw Casino, Mohegan Sun, and Foxwoods have poker rooms.
• Charitable Games: Charitable gaming takes many forms. In most places, charitable gaming organizations host bingo nights, but other forms of gambling are allowed. Not-for-profit charitable gaming organizations sometimes host Las Vegas Nights (Millionaire Clubs), raffles, bell jar competitions, pickle card contests, and pull-tab contests. Pickle cards and pull-tab tickets are similar in many ways to a lottery scratch-card. Bell Jar gaming is a kind of raffle.
• Bingo: Bingo is the most popular and widespread form of charitable gaming. Church groups, veterans’ groups, police and firefighter organizations, medical research groups, and civic organizations all host bingo nights. Organized bingo nights might be found in a dedicated bingo hall, a community center, or a VFW outpost; online bingo has become widely popular as well.
• Lotteries: State lotteries have existed since the early days of the United States. During the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress funded the war partly with lottery betting. In the latter half of the 20th century, many US states enacted state lotteries to produce public school funding and scholarship funding. Since the 1980s, the multistate lottery associations, Powerball and Mega Millions, have grown to include 44 US states apiece. State lotteries also sell scratch-cards, the best revenue producer.
• Sportsbooks: Legal sportsbooks are found in land-based casinos in Las Vegas. For the past 25 years, sports lotteries are legal in Delaware, Oregon, and Montana. After the US Supreme Court struck down the PASPA federal ban on sports betting in the 46 other US states, any US state can legalize sportsbooks. Delaware and New Jersey plan to open sportsbooks in the coming weeks, while 5 other US states have sportsbook legalization bills in committee. Lawmakers in 13 other US states are discussing the legalization of sports betting.
• Horse Racing: Horse racing has been legal in many US states for generations because betting on horses is considered a less dangerous form of gambling — and one wealthier Americans enjoy. Horse racing, harness racing, and greyhound racing involve pari-mutuel wagering, in which one bettor’s win means other bettors lose. The horse bettor competes against other bettors and not the racebook, though the bookmaker sets the odds based on betting volume for each horse. Off-track betting facilities now exist, with simulcast horse races and betting on historical horse races. Because the horse betting industry has struggled, many states now allow slot machine gambling at horse tracks.
• Online Casinos: Online casinos, poker sites, and sportsbooks were a huge industry in the USA until 2006 when the US Congress passed the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The UIGEA banned all forms of Internet gambling which were banned for interstate telephone lines under the 1961 Wire Act. From 2007 to 2011, this meant casino sites, online cardrooms, and bookmaker sites. A 2011 US Department of Justice opinion reversed the DOJ’s stance on online casinos and poker sites, so four US states now have legal online casinos and poker sites: New Jersey, Delaware, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. New York, California, and others might follow suit eventually. It is estimated that between 65% to 85% of casino revenue in the US comes from real money slots.
• Smartphone Betting: In most parts of the United States, mobile casino and poker sites are banned or unregulated. Now that sportsbooks are legal, live/in-play smartphone betting apps could become legal. Tom King of the Readyfire smartphone trivia apps says legal US sports betting will transform Android and iOS gaming apps in America.

Other Types of Wagering: Other forms of gambling takes place in the United States. 50 million Americans bet on Super Bowl office pools and March Madness brackets each year. Though it’s illegal, so many people engage in office betting that authorities look the other way in most cases. Fantasy football and fantasy baseball leagues involve small season-long wagers. In over a dozen US states, fantasy sports have been legalized, but in many other states, fantasy sports betting is allowed to happen. Some argue that daily fantasy sports gaming sites like FanDuel and DraftKings are sports wagering, but they exist in a gray area. Over a dozen US states have legalized DFS sites. Jai Alai is a legal form of sports betting in Connecticut and Florida.