The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) announced that it is accepting petitions from casino operators primarily operating in jurisdictions outside of Pennsylvania, but who wish to seek approval to be Qualified Gaming Entities (QGE), for one of 12 remaining certificates to conduct online gaming.
A QGE has the ability to obtain one or more of the three categories of iGaming certificates that remain available in the commonwealth, and can operate online without having any ties to a Pennsylvania casino.
The period to petition the PGCB to obtain one of the remaining certificates began on January 3, and will run through March 3.
This is the board’s second round of bidding for iGaming certificates available to entities without a brick-and-mortar presence in Pennsylvania, the first petition period occurring in late 2018. One entity was determined to be a QGE during the earlier petition period, but certificates have not yet been issued to it as its application remains in process.
The 12 remaining certificates, which cost $4 million each, are in the following three categories:
- three certificates for games which simulate slot machines;
- three certificates for banked table games which simulate casino table games played against the house; and,
- six certificates for non-banked table games (generally, poker).
The iGaming license process was created under Pennsylvania’s 2017 gaming expansion law. Under that law, the 13 current casino licensees had the first opportunity to apply for and obtain the 39 available interactive gaming certificates (13 in each of the three categories). Most iGaming websites in the commonwealth are operated directly by Pennsylvania’s brick-and-mortar casinos, or online operators who have entered market access agreements with those casinos.
QGEs can obtain access to the Pennsylvania online market without any such connections.
More information on how to petition for the available iGaming certificates is available under the QuickLinks section of the PGCB’s website homepage, gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov.
