Two new PA online poker sites — BetMGM and Borgata — have soft-launched in Pennsylvania for two days of testing and if there are no issues will be live this week, joining PokerStars in the state.
A two-day test period began Tuesday morning for both sites: BetMGM Casino PA (licensee: Hollywood Casino Grantville) and Borgata Casino PA (licensee: Rivers Philadelphia).
PokerStars PA, which is currently running its Pennsylvania Spring Championship of Online Poker (PASCOOP) through May 2, has been the only operational online poker site in Pennsylvania.
PokerStars, partnered with the Mount Airy Casino Resort in Pocono, Pennsylvania, collected $2.4 million in rake and tournament fees in March. That was a slight decrease from February’s $2.5 million.
Players can enter the new sites via either provider and be combined into one when it comes to playing cash or tournament games. So there will be a poker network within the state through PartyPoker US no matter which of the two sites you enter from, according to an email to PennStakes.com Tuesday morning from Doug Harbach, communications director for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB).
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What Comes After Testing?
Harbach also added that after an audit of the performance of both sites during the two-day test period, the PGCB can sign off on permanent operation.
“I will note that in this instance, the sites are going to run 24-hours unlike some other tests for online casino games in which there is a finite test period each day and then a quiet period,” Harbach wrote. “So, once launched for test, the sites will not shut down unless there are issues.”
BetMGM launched its second online casino in Pennsylvania on Feb. 24 with the introduction of the Borgata Casino app. It gained online casino gaming market access to the state through a partnership with Rivers Casino Philadelphia. The Borgata online casino PA followed the BetMGM Casino, which went live on Dec. 4, 2020.
