PokerStars Gets License To Offer Online Poker In Pennsylvania

PokerStars has campaigned hard for a number of years to re-enter the American gaming market but has so far only been able to enter the New Jersey market.

PokerStars is not eligible to offer online poker in Nevada due to past indiscretions and given the fact that online poker is legal in only four states – the options were limited.

PokerStars will now have access to a new gaming market as it gained approval to operate in Pennsylvania. The Keystone state is the fourth state in America to lift the ban of online gambling and is yet to launch its iGaming market. Gaming analysts suggest that Pennsylvania could have its iGaming market up and running during the first half of 2019 and that is also most likely as to when PokerStars will launch its iPoker operations.

WTAJ TV

 

PokerStars has had a good run in New Jersey and will be very happy to get the green light to launch in Pennsylvania. This approval also gives the online poker giant more ammunition to push for more iPoker licenses once more states lift the ban on online poker.

More than 10 states including California and New York has discussed the possibility of legalizing online poker for the last few years but those discussions have not been fruitful. It is quite likely that new discussions regarding the legalization of sports betting and online poker will gain new momentum once we enter 2019.

Mohegan Sun Gets License But Drops Out

Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment which belongs to Connecticut’s Mohegan Tribe also applied for an online poker license. Pennsylvania not only approved PokerStars iPoker license but also gave approval to Mohegan Sun to launch online poker operations. However, the tribal casino operator has decided to drop its plan to launch an online poker website for the Pennsylvania market.

Mohegan Sun put down $10 million to gain a license to offer online casino games, online poker and online slots. Since it decided to opt out of offering online poker, the tribal operator has received a $2 million refund from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

It is quite possible that Mohegan Sun did not expect PokerStars to get its iPoker license approved. Once the tribal operator learned that PokerStars got approval, it decided to pull out and that is not surprising given the fact that PokerStars has a reputation of being dominating and monopolizing just about every market it ventures into.