Poker NewsMuch more than just a poker blog...
Rumours regarding the arrival of online poker in the Pennsylvania State have been going around for quite some time now.
Ever since the state made its intentions of regulating online gambling public, poker lovers have been constantly inquiring about the timeline. However, no official date regarding this has been announced as yet. Now people are wondering if it’s going to happen in the state at all or not. PGCB (Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board) has been quiet about this matter and its spokesperson recently shared that one of the operators might be able to offer poker games in the very near future, but didn’t commit any date.
Many are speculating that one of the issues which might be holding the government back is the possibility of problem gambling. Well, as far as that is concerned, Pennsylvania could look at the UK model. In UK, there’s a program called Gamstop through which players can self-exclude themselves from casino platforms for a certain period of time. Although there are sites not registered with Gamstop [3] too, the program does provide gamblers with a tool to keep themselves away from online gambling for as long as they like.
Non-committal PGCB
Pennsylvania poker fans have also been tweeting furiously about the reception that any such successful poker launch might get in the state. PGCB has been constantly fielding questions from players inquiring about online poker, and the same spokesperson has been highlighting how Pennsylvania has a very good poker market, and there is plenty of excitement for it to go live here.
Not much movement either
Although July 15 was the official date for online casinos to become operational in the state, only 3 were launched. And none of those platforms have ventured into online poker as yet. Rather, they have been running a limited number of online casino games. Having said that, it should be noted that 3 of the biggest poker platforms in the world have joined hands with 3 different Pennsylvania casinos. There could also be another reason why Pennsylvania is going slow about launching poker in any of its brick and mortar and online casinos. One look at the revenue figures of New Jersey (for the month of August 2019) will give you a fair idea. The revenues were not as profitable as projected. Out of the $ 60.3 million revenue [4] earned by the New Jersey’s online gambling sector, only $ 1.7 billion was generated by online poker.
A professional poker player named Michael ‘Gags30’ Gagliano had recently tweeted about Pokerstars going live with its beta testing platform on August 27th, but the PGCB was quick in shooting down the rumour, and terming it as negative info, leaving fans disappointed. Thereafter, many started speculating that online poker might be a reality in the state by September 2019, but nothing has happened as yet. A great number of those people are now keenly looking at October 2019 to be the month when Pennsylvania residents will finally get a chance to indulge in some legal online poker in the state.