Parx and Rivers Casino become 2nd and 3rd to launch online sports betting in Pennsylvania

Parx Casino in Bensalem and Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh became the second and third Pennsylvania gambling operator to offer online sports betting, respectively. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said Monday the first of three days of online testing for Parx would begin at 4 p.m. and go to midnight. Longer test periods are scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. BetRivers.com kicked off its two-day test period starting Tuesday, from 4 p.m. to midnight, and Wednesday, from 2 p.m. to midnight.

Pending review and approval from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, 24/7 online and mobile wagering at BetRivers.com will commence immediately thereafter. It’s available on mobile devices, laptops or desktop computers, as long as they are physically located within the state. “More and more transactions are being done online, whether it’s buying something, whether it’s making reservations, and now it’s gambling,” said Doug Harbach, spokesman of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

Rivers is owned by Rush Street Gaming, the company that owns and operates SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia, which inaugurated online sports-betting in Pennsylvania in May. Since Rivers and SugarHouse operations share technology, Rivers requires only two days of testing before a full launch. SugarHouse said bettors placed USD 573,163 in interactive sports bets during the last four days of May when its system was undergoing testing, according to the gaming board.

“In about the first hour and a half we had over 300 accounts set up and we had at least a hundred people place a wager so far in the first hour and a half,” said Andre Barnabei, Vice President of Gaming at Rivers Casino.

Parx began taking sports bets in January at its physical location, and also offers wagering at its off-track betting locations in South Philadelphia and Oaks. Parent company Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment is currently constructing a permanent sportsbook as part of a USD 10 million expansion project. It's set to open this year.

Greenwood Gaming also retrofitted and added sports betting capabilities to its Turf Club locations in South Philadelphia and Oaks in Montgomery County, according to Philadelphia Business Journal. They were renamed South Philadelphia Race and Sportsbook and Oaks Race and Sportsbook.

With the launch of online sports betting, industry experts say, betting will grow dramatically in Pennsylvania. In New Jersey, customers placing bets on mobile platforms or from desktop devices now account for about 80 percent of the sports betting volume. Through May, sports betting in Pennsylvania generated $2.9 million in revenue on $35.9 million wagered, according to Control Board data.

The sports betting lines and odds for Parx, SugarHouse, and Rivers are all managed by Kambi Group PLC, a European operator that recently opened its North American headquarters in Philadelphia.