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The Pennsylvania Lottery has added virtual sports to its product mix, while gaming regulators say actual Sports Betting won’t arrive in the state until October at the earliest.
On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Lottery announced the launch of two Xpress Sports games:
Xpress Football and Xpress Car Racing. Players can watch the animated action play out on big-screen monitors at over 1,500 Lottery retail outlets.
New games run every five minutes and players can win up to $250 from a $1 stake.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced last October that the Lottery would be adding virtual Sports Betting, a move that caught some observers by surprise.
The product is being supplied by Inspired Gaming in conjunction with Scientific Games, which powers the Lottery’s platform.
Virtual betting is all the rage in Europe, particularly in Italy, where it generates about one-third the revenue of actual betting.
Inspired launched online virtual betting in New Jersey last November, and it remains to be seen whether Pennsylvania’s new
iLottery site will incorporate the new product.
Under the gambling expansion legislation Pennsylvania passed last year, the Lottery was forbidden from offering online products that
“simulate casino-style games,” which would appear to give virtual betting a pass.
But Pennsylvania’s casino operators were already irate over the iLottery’s “slot-style” games, not to mention the
Lottery’s ability to market its online products to anyone 18 years or older, while you’ll have to be 21 to visit the casinos’ gambling sites.
So you can’t expect the casinos to take this latest affront lightly.
True to form, PennLive quoted Pennsylvania Casino Gaming Coalition spokesman David La Torre saying that Xpress Sports
“combines elements of online casino games, Sports Betting and slot machines, areas that are legislatively restricted to the Commonwealth’s casino operators.
” La Torre said his group would fight the Lottery’s “illegal attempts to cannibalize the state’s casino industry.”
ONLINE GAMBLING APPLICATIONS
Meanwhile, Wednesday saw the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) approve the online gambling license applications of
Chester Downs and Marina LLC (which operates Harrah’s Casino Philadelphia), Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment (the Parx Casino in Philadelphia),
and Mount Airy LLC (the Mount Airy Resort Casino).
All three operators opted for the full-spectrum package (slots, table games and poker) rather than take the à la carte route
and thus their $10m license fee must be submitted within 60 days.
The PGCB also revealed that Churchill Downs Inc, which recently acquired the Presque Isle Downs & Casino,
has applied for online slots and table games licenses at a cost of $4m apiece.
The Pennsylvania Lottery has added virtual sports to its product mix, while gaming regulators say actual Sports Betting won’t arrive in the state until October at the earliest.
On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania Lottery announced the launch of two Xpress Sports games:
Xpress Football and Xpress Car Racing. Players can watch the animated action play out on big-screen monitors at over 1,500 Lottery retail outlets.
New games run every five minutes and players can win up to $250 from a $1 stake.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced last October that the Lottery would be adding virtual Sports Betting, a move that caught some observers by surprise.
The product is being supplied by Inspired Gaming in conjunction with Scientific Games, which powers the Lottery’s platform.
Virtual betting is all the rage in Europe, particularly in Italy, where it generates about one-third the revenue of actual betting.
Inspired launched online virtual betting in New Jersey last November, and it remains to be seen whether Pennsylvania’s new
iLottery site will incorporate the new product.
Under the gambling expansion legislation Pennsylvania passed last year, the Lottery was forbidden from offering online products that
“simulate casino-style games,” which would appear to give virtual betting a pass.
But Pennsylvania’s casino operators were already irate over the iLottery’s “slot-style” games, not to mention the
Lottery’s ability to market its online products to anyone 18 years or older, while you’ll have to be 21 to visit the casinos’ gambling sites.
So you can’t expect the casinos to take this latest affront lightly.
True to form, PennLive quoted Pennsylvania Casino Gaming Coalition spokesman David La Torre saying that Xpress Sports
“combines elements of online casino games, Sports Betting and slot machines, areas that are legislatively restricted to the Commonwealth’s casino operators.
” La Torre said his group would fight the Lottery’s “illegal attempts to cannibalize the state’s casino industry.”
ONLINE GAMBLING APPLICATIONS
Meanwhile, Wednesday saw the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) approve the online gambling license applications of
Chester Downs and Marina LLC (which operates Harrah’s Casino Philadelphia), Greenwood Gaming & Entertainment (the Parx Casino in Philadelphia),
and Mount Airy LLC (the Mount Airy Resort Casino).
All three operators opted for the full-spectrum package (slots, table games and poker) rather than take the à la carte route
and thus their $10m license fee must be submitted within 60 days.
The PGCB also revealed that Churchill Downs Inc, which recently acquired the Presque Isle Downs & Casino,
has applied for online slots and table games licenses at a cost of $4m apiece.
