The Bally’s Corporation has been given the go-ahead by Pennsylvania’s gaming regulators to launch its online casino in the commonwealth. On March 22, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board approved the firm’s applications for online slots and table games, enabling them to pay $8 million for the privilege.
Pennsylvania is home to 17 land-based casinos, and the board opened up its iGaming market to gaming entities that don’t have a physical presence in the state late last year. This allowed Bally’s, who plan to build a Category 4 casino in State College near Penn State University, to apply for online gaming privileges.
The PGCB said there were 12 licenses available for purchase, comprising three online slots, three house-banked table games, and six interactive poker concessions, each with a $4 million licensing fee. Bally’s was the only buyer for the licenses, although brick-and-mortar gaming licensees were charged just $1 million for their three verticals.
Bally’s have yet to confirm a timeline for the launch of their internet casino operations. Meanwhile, the PGCB approved the company’s Cat 4 casino application in January. The $123 million project will see a former Macy’s department store at the Nittany Mall transformed into a casino, with up to 750 slot machines, 30 table games, and a sportsbook.
The board also issued a total of $60,000 in fines related to iGaming. Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course was fined $45,000 for allowing five individuals who were enrolled in the state’s iGaming Self-Exclusion program to gamble online with their iGaming partner. Mohegan Pennsylvania and its iGaming partner, Unibet, were fined $7,500 for failing to properly suspend an iGaming account for an individual who had initiated a 90-day “cooling off” period, and Evolution, a business-to-business third-party iGaming provider, were fined $7,500 for not properly registering a new employee with the PGCB.
