Revenues expected to rival New Jersey
The nascent Pennsylvania sports betting market entered a new phase last week when SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia went live with the first online and mobile sports betting in the state.
Pennsylvania’s six retail sports books have generated $125.6 million in wagers since November, but all observers agree this figure will be dwarfed by online and mobile wagering, just as in neighboring New Jersey—which generated nearly $300 million in handle in March alone, with around 80 percent of those bets made online.
Several Pennsylvania sports betting apps and sites are expected to go live soon, according to analysts from PlayPennsylvania.com.
The launch took place after state regulators ran several days of tests of the SugarHouse online systems, examining safeguards against underage gambling and geolocation systems to ensure wagering is within the state.
“There is no question that the growth of the Pennsylvania sports betting market has been slowed by the delayed launch of online apps,” said Jessica Welman, sports betting analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com. “The launch of sports betting apps will give us our first true look at Pennsylvania’s potential as a market, which we believe should rival New Jersey and eventually Nevada as the nation’s largest market.”
In Nevada, approximately 65 percent of all sports bets are made online, according to analysts from PlayUSA.com, an affiliate site to PlayPennsylvania.com. The growing popularity of sports betting apps has also helped Nevada, which set a single-month record in March with a handle of $582.3 million, even with increased competition from other legal jurisdictions.
“There is no reason to believe that Pennsylvania sports bettors would be any different in their preference for online sports betting than those in New Jersey and Nevada,” said Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com. “Bettors are attracted to the convenience and ease of use of sports betting apps, and online sports books that excel in both categories tend to rise to the top. The more innovative a product, the better it tends to do.”
SugarHouse had a leg up on many competitors because of its successful New Jersey online casino, PlaySugarHouse.com, and its mobile sports betting app. Pennsylvania sports-betting market leader Rivers Casino—which, like SugarHouse, is owned by Rush Street Gaming—is expected to go online soon with sports wagering. Both casinos are running sports books powered by platform supplier Kambi.
In an interview with GGB News, Richard Schwartz, president of Rush Street Interactive (RSI), the Rush Street division in charge of sports betting operations, said RSI’s New Jersey experience put the operator on the fast track to become the first to launch online wagering in Pennsylvania.
“In Pennsylvania, we were first out of the gate because we had the licensing in order, our product and operations teams collaborated closely with the regulators, and we had the advantage of already being live in New Jersey with playsugarhouse.com,” Schwartz said. “We also had our own proprietary platform and our engineers who could adapt that platform very quickly to meet Pennsylvania’s specific regulations and requirements.”
Schwartz said the successful Pennsylvania launch of the SugarHouse retail book was helped along by the timing of the launch with respect to major sporting events. Now, with finals wrapping up in both professional basketball and hockey—not to mention the approach of Major League Baseball playoffs and the new NFL season—Schwartz said the timing for the launch of online and mobile wagering in the state couldn’t be better.
“As soon as we launched (the retail book), we saw strong bets being placed right away,” Schwartz said. “Our launch timing was perfect, right as the NBA and NHL finals were starting. It’s thrilling for us to make gaming history, and we’re excited for Pennsylvania residents and visitors to finally place bets conveniently from their homes and mobile phones on all their favorite sporting events.
“Since the opening of the SugarHouse and Rivers Casino Sportsbooks, supplied and supported Rush Street Interactive, we’ve seen around-the-clock action. Now, due to the ease of online and mobile sports betting, where you can bet at home or on the go, we expect the Pennsylvania market to see a huge boost in sports betting wagers and a chance to acquire and drive new online players to visit the brick-and-mortar casinos.”
Kambi currently provides sports betting kiosks for the retail sports books at SugarHouse and Rivers, as well as Parx Casino and its two OTB parlors. Kambi officials told PlayPennsylvania.com that around 75 percent of wagers in the state currently are placed through kiosks, with some properties as high as 88 percent.
SugarHouse’s bettors in Pennsylvania can use the same internet address, PlaySugarHouse.com, as they do in New Jersey, where online sports betting began last year (Pennsylvania users will be automatically rerouted to Pa.PlaySugarHouse.com).
The SugarHouse app is unavailable on the Apple mobile platform, iOS, but the service can be accessed on an Android phone, or a desktop PC or a Mac.
“Players who want to play on their Android devices can go to playsugarhouse.com,” Schwartz explained, “where they can download the Android app directly, since Google doesn’t allow it into the store yet. This is exactly how we and all other online operators do it in New Jersey too. Apple users can register using their mobile devices, but will need to wager from a desktop or laptop until our iOS apps are approved by Apple.”
Parx Casino and Valley Forge Casino Resort, which has partnered with New Jersey market leader FanDuel Sportsbook for its online product, are also expected to launch online wagering this summer, in time for the NFL season.
“Pennsylvania’s online sports betting market will expand quickly,” PlayPennsylvania’s Welman said. “Casinos such as SugarHouse and Valley Forge-FanDuel will have an early advantage because of their experience in other states, but the competition will be fierce. And that will be a win for the state’s sports bettors.”
Rush Street Interactive, meanwhile, is becoming a model for sports betting operations outside of Nevada. “Due to the quality of our product and strong operational performance in all our markets, we were the first U.S. gaming company to launch in Colombia,” says Schwartz. “We are well experienced and prepared to bring our expertise to other partner casino operators in other markets. In fact, we are being approached by commercial and tribal casino and racetrack operators in the U.S. who are expressing interest in RSI becoming a potential partner to license our platform and provide managed services to help them operate their online casinos, online and retail sports books, as well as RSI’s social casino and sports book platform in some instances.”
