The NFL’s long-running “Are you ready for some football” is getting a positive response from a growing number of legal sportsbooks operating across the U.S. Pennsylvania is seeing a flurry of activity in the online space, with venues like SugarHouse, Rivers and Parx launching mobile sports gambling operations. Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack has now responded to the NFL question, answering with “almost.”
Harrah’s expects to launch its online sportsbook sometime next month, which would give it time to work out any kinks ahead of the NFL’s September 5 regular season kickoff. In an exclusive interview with MetroBet, Senior VP & General Manager Chris Albrecht said, “It’s always been about that magical date of getting things up and running before football season, so we expect to launch online sometime in August.”
Any mobile gambling platforms that want to operate in Pennsylvania lost a huge segment of the market a couple of months ago when Apple decided, as it usually does, that it wouldn’t play nice with others. It ordered all apps available on the App Store to be built using its native code, instead of alternatives such as HTML5, and this was especially damaging for gambling operators. Fortunately, Rush Street Gaming found a possible workaround that others might consider.
It has been predicted that Pennsylvania’s sports gambling market could rival that of both New Jersey and Nevada. That might be a little bit of a stretch, but sports wagers in the Keystone State are certainly predicted to explode. Pennsylvania still has to contend with four border states – out of a six possible – that are now offering sports gambling. Only Ohio and Maryland don’t, but this could change. Ohio has put its sports gambling plans on the back burner, for now, and Maryland is still working out the best way to introduce the activity.
Albrecht further told MetroBet, “It’s just growing in a whole new market. Maybe some of these states that abut each other might cut into one another a little bit so it will be interesting to see how much Pennsylvania and New Jersey cut into one another – but I think for a few years we’ll all just be in growth mode.”
