Penn National Goes All-In on Online Sports Betting

Penn National, the first PA casino to pony up the $10 million licensing charge to provide sports betting, met using the state gaming control board today for its needed five-year gaming certificate renewal hearing.

Throughout the meeting, representatives from the gambling conglomerate highlighted the positive influence the business has had around the state, whilst also creating several revelations concerning Penn’s sports wagering plans.

During their presentation, business executives revealed that Penn National will make a $10 million+ investment within the vertical, offering live sports betting at Hollywood Casino as well as via desktop browsers and mobile apps. They estimated that the physical sportsbook could be operational in the next few months.

In August, Penn announced that it would partner with William Hill for its sports wagering offerings in each Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Based on comments made throughout the hearing, on-line options will likely be delayed for some time, until the kinks within the company’s retail books are smoothed out.

Will Hill, a business which currently operates retail, on-line and mobile books in New Jersey and Nevada, should have no trouble deploying its technologies quickly and efficiently for PA customers like Hollywood Casino when the time is right. The provider has teamed up with IGT inside a deal which will give state lotteries throughout the U.S. a turnkey answer to deploy sports betting should they select to do so.

Penn National may also utilize IGT tech for its upcoming on-line casino, something which comes as somewhat of a surprise, contemplating that SG Digital, a fully capable iGaming platform provider, currently powers its play money social casino.

Hollywood most likely will not be the only PA slot licensee to leverage William Hill technology. In New Jersey, the UK sports leader is becoming entrenched, already powering 3 retail sportsbooks, together with its own branded online and mobile site.

Apart from Penn National, the following Keystone State properties have applied for a sports wagering license:

Parx Casino
South Philadelphia Turf Club: an off-track betting parlor, that is a part of Parx Casino
Harrah’s Philadelphia
SugarHouse Casino
Rivers Casino

We believe that the majority of the state’s 13 eligible properties will ultimately bite the bullet and pay the huge charges in order to offer sports betting. A number of will most likely turn to William Hill in order to get their operations up and operating as quick as possible.

In the hearing, we also discovered that the Hollywood Casino sportsbook will be situated on the second floor adjacent towards the simulcast facilities. Execs think that gamblers betting on horse races will naturally be interested in betting on sports as well.

The region will encompass 5,000 square feet, and feature six betting windows, a gigantic 110” flat screen Television, and more than 50 additional televisions. The casino will hire 20 extra workers to staff the sportsbook and spend $450,000 renovating the space.

Penn National, as soon as an opponent of expanded gambling, has accepted its new reality and gone all-in by purchasing two satellite casinos at a total cost of $57,600,000, along with a $10 million online gambling license along with a $10 million sports betting permit.

Tomorrow, regulators will meet once more in order to approve sports wagering applications for the four businesses which have so far decided to take the plunge. As soon as given the green light by the board, the casinos will start ramping up their sports betting plans, and most likely launch sometime during the middle or the tail end of the NFL season.

1 thought on “Penn National Goes All-In on Online Sports Betting”

  1. Dave & Peggy Schmidt

    We currently visit your Ameristar Casino in Black Hawk Colorado. Would like to join your on line Penn Casino and Sports Betting when available.

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