The Pennsylvania online poker economy has the potential to become one of best in the US. Following legal changes in 2017, the first site went live in 2019 and that opened up the door to a world of possibilities. Currently Pennsylvania hosts four legal online poker sites where you can play poker with real money.
The Pennsylvania online poker economy has the potential to become one of best in the US. It has been growing since the launch of the first state-regulated site in late 2019, and its full potential has yet to be tapped.
The handful of poker sites in the Pennsylvania market operate within the boundaries of the state itself. Players must be 21 and located within Pennsylvania to play on any of the sites. Once verified for location, players find a solid selection of cash games and tournaments on any of the four sites on three platforms:
Those options are excellent if you live in Pennsylvania. In addition, players can also find good poker games online at Global Poker, a sweepstakes-based poker site.
Online poker remains legal, live, and available to anyone over the age of 21 located in Pennsylvania. There are four poker sites in operation under the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) regulations and licensing framework.
The setup for online poker in Pennsylvania is rather simple. Any online poker operator that wants to launch in the market must partner with a land-based casino operator before receiving PGCB approval. This ensures that the casinos and online sites will work together for mutual benefits, promoting each other and using revenue for the overall brand. One online poker operator may partner with several casino brands, and under the broad agreement, those sites can link their player pools together. An example is BetMGM, which partners with Hollywood Casino and Rivers Casino. The former uses the pa.betmgm website, while the latter operates at pa.borgataonline. Since both use the same BetMGM platform, the players on both sites combine, giving the site more incentive to offer a bigger selection of cash game limits and variations, as well as higher tournament guarantees.
There is something missing in Pennsylvania. It has yet to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA).
In May 2022, Michigan announced that it joined MSIGA to partner with New Jersey, Nevada, and Delaware for interstate online poker. This meant that online poker operators running sites in more than one of those states could link those sites across state lines to improve player pool numbers. For example, PokerStars was one of those operators and has since linked its poker sites in New Jersey and Michigan. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board gave no reason as to its omission from that process, only indicating that it could sign on to MSIGA in the future. All three platforms in Pennsylvania – PokerStars, WSOP, and BetMGM – would benefit from joining sister sites in Michigan and New Jersey.
What does the future hold for online poker players in Pennsylvania?
As stated in the introduction, there are four online poker sites on three platforms operating today in the state of Pennsylvania.
PokerStars USA was the first to launch in November 2019. Lawmakers codified legal online poker in 2017, but it took longer than expected for the PGCB to issue licenses and approve sites for real-money poker. PokerStars PA launched and remained – for some reason – the only online poker site open under the new Pennsylvania law until April 2021 when BetMGM launched its two sites. WSOP launched its poker site on the 888poker platform in July 2021.
All of the sites offer various promotions for new players and those reloading their accounts. They have a variety of cash games, SNGs, and poker tournaments, including major series with sizeable tournament guarantees. The most popular of all the series is the World Series of Poker on the WSOP site, which offers online bracelets and WSOP Circuit rings via official tournaments several times per year.
Players in the Keystone State can also feel comfortable on Global Poker. Sweepstakes online poker is legal in most states across America.
After Black Friday, PokerStars was anxious to set things right with the US government, pay its penalties for operating in the United States after the UIGEA became law in 2006, and reenter the US market. Its first reentry into America came in New Jersey in 2016.
When the Pennsylvania market opened for licensing applications, PokerStars was the first in the door with its application and approval. It quickly set up PokerStars PA through its Mount Airy Casino partner and launched in the first week of November 2019. More than 500 players logged on, excited to see the signature PokerStars red spade on their computer and mobile screens.
Very quickly, the size of the PokerStars PA market overtook the PokerStars NJ player pool.
The next month, the site ran its first Pennsylvania Championship of Online Poker (PACOOP). With 50 events and $1 million in guarantees, players couldn’t get enough, quickly prompting PokerStars to raise the guarantees to $1.6 million for that series. The second iteration of that series in the fall of 2020 paid out more than $2 million.
There are now several series each year:
In 2023, PokerStars teamed up with Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia to host a live Summer Series in August and September. They set it up for three weekends featuring three major events: a $550 buy-in with $200K GTD, $1,100 buy-in with $300K GTD, and $2,200 buy-in with $500K GTD. Online satellites awarded numerous prize packages on PokerStars PA, as well as on the PokerStars sites in New Jersey and Michigan.
Players find much of the online poker they seek on PokerStars, especially in the poker tournament realm.
PokerStars PA also offers Spin & Go 3-max hyper-turbo SNGs from $1 to $25 buy-ins. The randomly-drawn prize pool can be 2x to 2000x the buy-in, providing the chance to win up to $50K.
Of course, there are cash games as well. A wide range of limits welcome all players. And poker variations include Hold’em, Omaha, Stud, and Badugi, among others. The site offers tutorials to teach the basics.
PokerStars remains the dominant site in Pennsylvania for online poker traffic, typically averaging 150 to 250 cash game players at one time. When running a tournament series, those numbers can easily double. On any given day, PokerStars PA has double or triple the number of players at the other sites.
The World Series of Poker website, in partnership with Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino, was the last of the three operators to launch its Pennsylvania online poker product. It did so in July 2021 and immediately drew players from the other sites by offering WSOP gold bracelets on the site.
In celebration of its launch, the WSOP wanted to welcome players with the opportunity to win gold bracelets online, as players had been doing for years from Nevada and New Jersey. The 2021 year was already a unique one, as the World Series had skipped its live series altogether in 2020 due to the pandemic, and it was organizing a live WSOP in Las Vegas in the fall months of 2021 with vaccination and coronavirus-led precautions. Players were craving a return to poker, but the offering of bracelets online in Pennsylvania for the first time in history was an excellent diversion.
The eight bracelet events that comprised the first WSOP PA online series did well.
In 2022, the WSOP offered online bracelets during the summer as the Las Vegas live series took place. Pennsylvania players found six events on the schedule, each of which saw lower prize pools than the year before but did find six new bracelet winners.
The 2023 WSOP had a WSOP PA series as well, this one with seven bracelet events. The numbers were solid, showing more than 1,500 entries and $684,090 awarded to the players, along with seven gold bracelets delivered.
WSOP Pennsylvania offers World Series of Poker Circuit series several times each year, with some listed as Super Circuit and others simply as WSOPC Online events. Each event awards a gold Circuit ring and qualifies players for points that can award seats to the annual Tournament of Champions, a million-dollar freeroll and bracelet event.
The WSOP offers other tournaments on its regular schedule as well, including dailies and nightlies with guarantees and a Sunday Majors tournament lineup. There is also a wide variety of cash games and SNGs hosted on demand, and BLAST Sit & Go tournaments are four-handed, super-turbo events with the chance to win 2x to 10,000x the buy-in.
Borgata Poker, under the wings of GVC Holdings and Roar Digital, has been live in New Jersey since 2018 and so already has a solid base of US players there. It was only a matter of time before it expanded into other legal betting states. Then Borgata Online Casino went live in Pennsylvania in February 2021, and Borgata Poker PA followed suit shortly thereafter in April. Parent company Roar took the old PlayMGM app offline following the deal between MGM Resorts and GVC Holdings before re-launching BetMGM Casino PA in the Keystone State. And eventually, it expanded with BetMGM Poker PA, too, in April 2021. Both BetMGM and Borgata are powered by the partypoker US network.
The BetMGM and Borgata poker brands share player pools in Pennsylvania because they are both on the same partypoker platform.
The largest series available on BetMGM and Borgata Online is the BetMGM Poker Pennsylvania Online Championships. The first iteration of the series ran in September 2022 with 26 events and $500K in prize pool guarantees. BetMGM recruited Darren Elias, who is now a brand ambassador, as well as Matt Berkey and Andrew Neeme to promote the series across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Michigan. (Berkey represented in his home state of Pennsylvania.)
That tied in with the BetMGM Poker Championship, a now-annual summer live tournament at ARIA in Las Vegas. That event debuted in 2022 with a $1 million guarantee for the $3,500 buy-in. It brought in 343 entries – some who qualified on the BetMGM and Borgata sites in Pennsylvania – for a prize pool that totaled $1,097,600.
They brought the tournament back, and the 2023 BetMGM Poker Championship at ARIA offered a $2 million guarantee. The turnout for the $3,500 buy-in event surpassed expectations by a sizeable amount, as the 1,026 entries created a prize pool that soared past the guarantee to land at $3,283,200.
BetMGM and Borgata also introduced a new online series this year – the BetMGM Winter Poker Championships – that runs in January.
Regular tournaments for players on the sites include:
Other action on the two sites includes leaderboard challenges with prizes and SPINS, which is the turbo SNG variant requiring three players, playing a fast structure, and paying 2x to 1200x the buy-in as the prize.
You can also rack up points for MGM Rewards (former M Life), honored by all MGM Resorts properties. As well as getting credit for how well you play poker, you can earn iRPs when you bet on casino games and sports. The more points you earn, the more bonuses, comps, hotel discounts, and special prizes you can get. Players will in fact also get access to benefits tied to Borgata Casino in Atlantic City as well as other MGM Resorts' casino-resorts nationwide, like MGM Grand, Bellagio and ARIA in Vegas, MGM Grand Detroit, and MGM in Maryland and Mississippi.
BetMGM PA and Borgata PA apps can easily be downloaded on iOS and Android from the Apple Store or Google Play, or through the sites themselves. However, all offerings are also available on desktop, where no downloading a poker client is necessary.
Excitement took over in the US when NSUS Group, the parent company of GGPoker and Natural8, acquired an Interactive Gaming Manufacturer license from the (PGCB) in February 2021. This type of license allowed them to provide the technology/software for an online poker room or online casino.
It was a big step forward in offering online gambling in the US market, but GGPoker still needs to partner with a land-based venue in Pennsylvania and obtain an Interactive Gaming Operator license.
GGPoker has been partnered with the World Series of Poker since 2020, and the relationship has only grown stronger. GGPoker hosts online bracelet events, puts its branding on several live bracelet events around the world, and now provides the online poker platform for the WSOP’s site in Ontario, Canada. Its next move in the US is likely to be in Pennsylvania.
For a slightly different experience, Global Poker is great. This site is legal in 49 US states, including Pennsylvania, because it operates in a different way than other online poker PA sites. It does this by using a sweepstakes model. Under federal law, sweepstakes are legal across the US (except in Washington State), and that makes Global Poker legit in Pennsylvania.
The basic premise is simple. You purchase gold coins to use as the currency on the site. By removing the ability to play with cash, Global Poker is almost like a free-play site. However, you do have to pay for gold coins (unless you obtain them through bonuses). Along with coins, you can use a secondary credit on the site known as sweeps, which can be withdrawn from the site as gift vouchers, either virtual or physical.
Global Poker offers online poker tournaments and cash games, complete with promotions, series, and prize pool guarantees. The site originally appealed to novice and beginner players, but as the number of players has increased significantly, Global is able to offer more options and attract a wider array of poker fans.
Each of the state-licensed poker sites in Pennsylvania offer their own tournament series, along with daily and weekly offerings.
The most popular tournaments are the World Series of Poker Online bracelet events, offered in the summer and fall for players located within the state of Pennsylvania. Players travel from nearby states to vie for bracelets. There are also several WSOP Circuit Online series each year, which award gold rings to the winners and qualify players for the annual Tournament of Champions freeroll.
PokerStars’ tournament series are highly regarded and much anticipated. The PokerStars PA version of WCOOP and SCOOP (PACOOP and PASCOOP, respectively) attract many players for the solid structures and prize pool guarantees.
BetMGM has been increasing the visibility of its signature online series. Connecting it with the live tournament at Aria in Las Vegas has garnered more popularity.
Cash games are popular at all four online poker sites in Pennsylvania. On any given day, there are 200 to 400 players at the cash game tables, with higher numbers in the evenings and on weekends. There are tables that start at just $0.01/$0.02 and easily hit the $5/$10 or higher at peak hours. Players will always find Hold’em and Omaha games, but there are also a fair number of other variants and mixed games.
PokerStars has the most players, except when the WSOP is hosting bracelet or WSOP Circuit ring events. BetMGM generally lags behind the other platforms in daily cash game players. Gone are the days when Sit & Gos were purely nine-handed affairs. Yes, you can still play these on-demand tournaments. However, the spectrum of options is much broader than it once was. Six-handed, hyper-turbo games, and heads-up SNG tournaments are all popular now.
Even more popular are the lottery-style SNG games, in which the prize pool is randomly chosen and can range from 2x to 1000x or 2000x the buy-in. These are typically short-handed SNGs – three or four players each – and play at a turbo or hyper-turbo speed. All of the online poker sites licensed in Pennsylvania offer some types of freeroll tournaments. It welcomes new players or those with very small bankrolls, as they can play for free with a guaranteed prize pool that the site provides. The WSOP site offers the most freerolls for new players, often awarding up to seven freeroll tickets for first-time depositors to special New Player Freeroll events with sizeable prize pools.
Pennsylvania is a gambling state. In the past two decades, it has become the second-largest gambling market in the United States. Las Vegas will likely always be number one in the gambling world, especially in America, but Pennsylvania often overshadows New Jersey, as Atlantic City is no longer the gambling hub it once was.
There are currently 17 casinos located throughout the state:
Only nine of those establishments maintain a functional poker room, as indicated above. In total, there are nearly 200 poker tables across those nine casinos, with Parx being the largest, followed by Rivers Casino Pittsburgh, Live! Casino Philadelphia, and Rivers Casino Philadelphia following. Some of the poker rooms in Pennsylvania also host live tournament series at various times of the year as well.
For some players, there is no replacement for live poker – the interactions, socialization, live tells on opponents, getting out of the house. But for many, online poker is preferred. For those unable to travel or leave their home due to illness or responsibilities, online poker is the only way they can play. In general there are many advantages to playing online.
If you have a need for speed, online play is the only option. Live dealers are slick, and the use of automatic shuffle machines can speed up the game. However, even the fastest dealers in the state can’t match what happens online. Random number generators mean you can see hundreds of hands per hour at a single online table. Add to this the fact you can play multiple tables at once and playing online is far superior to live in the speed department.
There are more players online than there are live. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, it’s easier to grab your phone or computer and find a game than it is to travel to your local casino. Secondly, online card rooms don’t have the same space restrictions that live venues have. Yes, there are limits to the amount of activity an operator’s servers can take. However, the average operator site can handle thousands of players at once. A card room inside a brick and mortar can’t do that.
Bricks and mortar casinos may offer the occasional promotion, but it’s rare. Online sites, on the other hand, always offer something extra. Welcome bonuses come standard at the best online poker Pennsylvania sites, as do reload offers, cashback promotions, and freerolls. What’s more, it doesn’t matter how much you wager. Pennsylvania online poker promos are open to everyone, regardless of the stakes you play.
Gaming on the go has become big business in recent years. As such, you can now access a mixture of real money and free-play mobile poker apps in Pennsylvania. Of the options available, PokerStars comes out on top. The developers have been updating and refining the platform for over a decade and it shows.
Today, you can download the PokerStars PA app (iOS or Android) and play in landscape or portrait mode. Not only that, you can access everything the desktop site has to offer.
Better yet, all of the Pennsylvania poker sites can be accessed through apps or via any mobile web browser. Technology has improved to the point that downloadable apps are not even necessary in some cases. Apps are preferable to many players, though, for more seamless play, especially when not connected to the most reliable wi-fi.
Free-play mobile poker apps are just as entertaining as their real-play counterparts. Although they can’t quite match the prizes and promotions of real-money poker sites in Pennsylvania, they do let you enjoy games on demand. And, most importantly, you don’t have to pay to play. When you try the following play-money poker apps, you can get a feel for the game, have some fun, and hone your skills without risking your bankroll.
This free-play Appeak poker app is simple, clean, and clutter-free. The interface is far from dull. However, the developers have made a conscious effort not to overload the app with unnecessary features. By removing the bells and whistles, you get instant and easy access to dozens of free cash games and tournaments.
This free play-money mobile poker app looks like any other. It’s available for iOS and Android, and you can play a selection of cash games at World Poker Club. This app has one special feature: gesture controls. To make games more immersive and interesting, certain gestures will initiate specific moves. For example, flicking up folds your hand. Double taps mean you want to check or call. Holding down your finger on the screen and dragging across will raise it up. These features are offered alongside standard action buttons and make this app truly engaging.
If you want to improve your skills, SnapShove is perfect. British poker pro Max Silver developed this app after years of playing online. The game allows you to run through various game scenarios and learn the best moves to make. So, while it’s not technically a play-money poker app, it’s an extremely useful tool to have at your disposal.
US Poker was crippled by the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) of 2006 (UIGEA). This federal law didn’t make the act of playing poker online illegal. However, it did make the
processing of funds by offshore operators illegal. In other words, remote sites were no longer allowed to process deposits and withdrawals from customers in the US. This law changed the game and sent a number of operators running for the proverbial hills.
In April 2011, the Department of Justice (DOJ) shut down all operators that hung around after UIGEA in a move known as Black Friday. The indictments brought an end to real-cash poker, casino gaming, and sports betting in the US for several years. Some states quickly pushed for the right to enact their own laws, legalizing online poker and other forms of i-gaming within their borders via a licensing and regulatory framework.
The US government seized the poker sites of PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, UltimateBet, and Absolute Poker on that Friday, leaving players to discover that logging on to their favorite sites simply delivered a warning from the US Department of Justice.
In the weeks that followed, PokerStars proceeded to pay players money from their online poker accounts. At the same time, the owners of UltimateBet and Absolute Poker absconded with the funds and never reimbursed players. Full Tilt Poker crumbled and led to a unique United States criminal investigation into the owners and primary stakeholders of the company. PokerStars, however, bought the Full Tilt software and repaid the majority of those players, and it eventually paid the UB and AP players as well. This was all a part of PokerStars efforts to pay its fines to the US government.
New Jersey was the first state to put forward a bill that would make sure funds weren’t processed offshore. This meant it didn’t contravene UIGEA or the Wire Act, and all licensing would be done within the state. By 2013, that bill was signed into law by Governor Chris Christie and online gaming in the US was back. Delaware did the same and legalized online casinos and poker rooms. Nevada legalized online poker only.
The same year New Jersey’s online gaming industry went live, Pennsylvania Rep. Tina Davis introduced legislation that would bring a similar system to the Keystone State. The bill didn’t gain any traction, but it opened up a discussion on the topic.
A study was commissioned to look at the potential impact of online gambling for Pennsylvania, and in 2014, the Senate Committee on Community, Economic and Recreational Development took up a proposal. Again, however, it fell flat.
This cycle of interest and political stumbling blocks continued until 2017. That year, both the House and Senate voted in favor of the Expanded Gaming Act (HB.271). Governor Tom Wolf signed the bill on October 30, 2017, and, with that, online gambling was legal in Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) was tasked with licensing and regulating operators in 2018. The board developed the entire regulatory framework, accepted license applications, vetted applicants, and finally issued licenses. Online casinos were the first to go live in early summer 2019, followed by online poker in November 2019.
Is online poker legal in Pennsylvania? Yes. The Expanded Gaming Act passed in 2017 and became a part of the state’s gambling laws. It allowed any casinos licensed in the state to apply for online gaming authorization.Operators from outside of Pennsylvania partnered with local brick-and-mortar venues to obtain licenses. Together, they launched legal, state-licensedsites.
All legal operators in PA must be licensed by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and abide by the following regulatory conditions:
Pennsylvania’s legislation clearly notes that players must be at least 21 years old and located within state lines if they want to ante up.
“The Gaming Control Board will put in place a system that,
through the use of GPS software and IP Address identification,
will block entry and play of Pennsylvania-licensed internet gaming
if a user is outside of the state.
In addition, participating in internet gaming when in a Pennsylvania casino
will also be blocked,” reads the Extended Gaming Act 2017.
You have to be inside state lines and not inside a licensed casino if you want to play online poker in PA for real money. This is as much for your protection as the operator’s. Anyone playing outside of the state is not only breaking federal laws but could be cheating. In other words, they may be able to get around security systems designed to control and regulate games within the state. Therefore, abiding by geolocation restrictions is as much about keeping you safe as helping the operator stay within the confines of the law.
To ensure everyone is located in Pennsylvania, legal sites use a variety of checks and balances. For starters, you’ll have to verify your identity when you register. You don’t have to live in Pennsylvania to use a PA operator. However, you will need to be in the state when you create an account. What’s more, you’ll only be able to log in when you’re within state lines. Verifying your identity allows the operator to establish a base.
From there, you’ll be asked to install or allow geolocation tracking software to work on your system (desktop and mobile). This software will pinpoint your location and, if you’re not in the right place, it won’t let you access the site. Any attempt to block or subvert the software will cause the site not to load and could result in your account being closed.
You have to be inside state lines and not inside a licensed casino if you want to play online poker in PA for real money. This is as much for your protection as the operator’s. Anyone playing outside of the state is not only breaking federal laws but could be cheating. In other words, they may be able to get around security systems designed to control and regulate games within the state. Therefore, abiding by geolocation restrictions is as much about keeping you safe as helping the operator stay within the confines of the law.
To ensure everyone is located in Pennsylvania, legal sites use a variety of checks and balances. For starters, you’ll have to verify your identity when you register. You don’t have to live in Pennsylvania to use a PA operator but need to be in the state when you create an account. What’s more, you’ll only be able to log in when you’re within state lines. Verifying your identity allows the operator to establish a base.
From there, you’ll be asked to install or allow geolocation tracking software to work on your system (desktop and mobile). This software will pinpoint your location and, if you’re not in the right place, it won’t let you access the site. Any attempt to block or subvert the software will cause the site not to load and could result in your account being closed.
Pennsylvania online gambling laws are clear: All payments must be processed securely. By offering safe ways to deposit and withdraw funds, licensed operators must store your funds in separate, secure accounts. This means your money can’t be used for operational purposes.
Aside from the nuances of PA poker laws, you can deposit by following these steps:
The most common payment options are:
To make withdrawals, you follow several steps:
All legal online poker sites in PA are safe and secure. The PGCB ensures that each licensee is legit and uses fair business practices. In technical terms, all accounts are password-protected, and SSL encryption ensures your personal details are safe at all times. Additionally, every payment method is reputable and safe.
In addition, every game you play will be 100% fair. Legal sites must have their random number generators tested and certified by third-party agencies. Every legit operator in PA meets this condition, ensuring that every deal of the cards is random.
