The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) has some more good news for companies that are looking to get a piece of Pennsylvania’s gambling market. In an announcement that was made on Tuesday, the PGCB confirmed that the interested casino operators can start submitting Interactive Gaming License Applications on June 4.
The interested parties will have to fill out a 59-page form that is available on the PGCB website. In addition to this, the board will require all the applicants to be fingerprinted which will be a prerequisite to a background investigation for each of the applicants and associated entities. As expected, the licenses for Pennsylvania’s new online gaming market will not be cheap – each the operators will have to part with $1 million for each of licenses they will be seeking.
The Tuesday announcement also mentioned that the online casino operators will have to partner with the land-based casinos that are currently operating in the state. Existing Pennsylvanian land-based casino operators, on the other hand, have more liberties as far as applying for the license is concerned – they can either decide to partner with new online gaming licenses applicants or build their online casino businesses. Still partnering with experienced third-party providers is a considerably wise move especially for smaller brick-and-mortar casinos such as Hollywood and Valley Forge casinos.
At the moment the PGCB is getting ready to receive the first wave of applications from interactive gaming service providers, manufacturers and suppliers all of which are to start streaming in by April 2.
Pennsylvania is the fourth state in the United States to legalize online gaming within its borders. The state’s legislature in October signed a law that allows for 12 licenses for each of the online categories, that is, casino table games, slots and poker. The number has since grown to 13 but each of the state’s active land-based casinos will be getting a license.
