Casinos in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has the second largest land-based gambling industry in the United States in terms of overall profitability, which means that local casino gaming enthusiasts have plenty of opportunities to pursue their hobby. Aside from numerous standalone casinos and racetrack casinos, Pennsylvania offers traditional horse race betting, charitable bingo, game nights, raffles, and a state-operated lottery. The state of Pennsylvania hasn’t regulated its online gambling market yet, but Pennsylvania lawmakers are expected to pass i-gaming friendly regulations by the end of the year.
Pennsylvania Gambling Laws
Pennsylvania has a set of strong gambling laws that allow it to deal with illegal gambling operators, but individual gambling aficionados who enjoy taking part in home poker games or playing on offshore casino sites don’t really have anything to worry about. Gambling is covered in Section 903 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes. The current regulations simply do not cover any form of online gambling and no punishments are listed for engaging in this kind of activity.
While theoretically it would be possible for any state official or law enforcement officer to argue that the existing laws prohibit Pennsylvania residents from playing on offshore casino sites, there’s no denying the fact that the notion of the authorities going after an individual online casino customer feels absurd in the current legal climate.
Online Casinos
Pennsylvania-based casino enthusiasts don’t have any state-licensed sites to play on yet, so it should come as no surprise that many of them turn to offshore casino sites. Aside from the limited availability of US-regulated sites, the biggest advantage those businesses have over intrastate casinos is the amount of money they can afford to give to the players regardless of which products they decide to use.
Biggest welcome bonuses, weekly reloads, countless free spins, life-changing progressive jackpots – the biggest offshore casinos simply have them all. In addition, most of those sites are exceptionally well designed and offer an interesting and varied game selection, which should be enough to provide anyone with months upon months of quality online casino entertainment.
Offshore Casino Sites That Accept Pennsylvania Players
Virtually every offshore online casino that accepts American players shouldn’t have any issues with allowing a Pennsylvania to open a real money account and join the action. While most of those sites are powered by Real Time Gambling gaming software, the casinos differ enough to remain interesting even after you visit most of the popular sites. Even better, some of the biggest sites offer additional slots and other interesting games from other developers, which gives you a chance to enjoy all the latest three-dimensional titles from talented developers like BetSoft.
Even though playing at offshore casino sites is fairly common in Pennsylvania, there’s simply no denying the fact that local casino enthusiasts have to deal with the limited availability of some of the most popular banking methods just like their Utah or Alaska-based counterparts. In the end, most Pennsylvania players end up using their credit cards to cover their banking expenses, which isn’t exactly reliable since about one-third of the transactions gets blocked. If that happens to you, don’t worry – you won’t lose any money, but you’ll have to look for another credit card to use for online gambling purposes.
Many players prefer to avoid the hassle of going through multiple cards and go for Western Union or MoneyGram deposits, but keep in mind that the number of sites that support money order payments and cash outs is extremely limited. Regardless of the deposit method you choose, most sites will insist on handling withdrawals with a bank wire transfer. However, some offshore casinos might agree for a cash out via check by courier, but keep in mind that relying on this method too much can get rather expensive in the long run.
Developing Legal Scenarios
Pennsylvania is already working on introducing an online gambling bill, which is referred to as HB 1235. The new regulations will allow Pennsylvania businesses to offer online poker and casino games on the intrastate market, which means that local gambling aficionados are very likely to get at least a few new sites to play with in the months to come.
