Customers of the Pennsylvania Lottery have had a lot of new offerings to enjoy this year thanks to the approvals that were part of the 2017 gaming package. The lottery has begun expanding its library of offerings, a process that kicked off with the statewide rollout of Keno to a number of retail locations. Now, players can find Keno at hundreds of bars and shops all across the state – the casino-style game is broadcasted on a networked monitor and scored with pencils. This was just the beginning.
New York-listed Inspired Entertainment has partnered with Scientific Games and Pennsylvania Lottery for the launch of its virtual sports at Pennsylvania retailer locations. Inspired Entertainment’s virtual sports games will be deployed for the retailers under its Xpress Sports brand and the first games customers can expect to enjoy playing are the Stock Car Racing and 1st Down Virtual Football.
“We are delighted to announce this key milestone for the Pennsylvania Lottery and Virtual Sports fans in the state. Through an integration with the Lottery’s gaming system, we’re introducing the thrill of Virtual Sports betting for the first time to Pennsylvanians, and we’re gratified to have been chosen by the Pennsylvania Lottery to deliver these new gaming entertainment products to its valued players with our high-quality Virtual Sports graphics and animation,” said Lorne Weil, the Executive Chairman of Inspired Entertainment.
Like Keno or even actual sports, the virtual sports games that are to be rolled out will require a TV monitor that will be used to broadcast the simulated games. Also, while many of retailer locations that include sports bars already have arrays of existing screens, the lottery will provide extra screens if need be. Later this year more games will be added alongside the football and auto racing virtual sports that will be initially rolled out.
The games and auto races will begin every few minutes and will be presented in a condensed format – expect nothing less than non-stop action-packed gameplay once they start. Furthermore, each game will run on a dedicated channel which means that the retailers can offer both virtual sports alongside each other. In essence, it is very similar to Esports betting.