FanDuel Group is expanding its FanDuel Casino offerings in New Jersey and Michigan. FanDuel Group announced today the official launch of its FanDuel branded, standalone FanDuel Casino product in New Jersey on iOS, Android and desktop. In Michigan, FanDuel Casino customers can now enjoy live dealer games from Evolution.
FanDuel Casino was initially offered exclusively within the FanDuel Sportsbook app in New Jersey. With the addition of the standalone FanDuel Casino product, customers living in, or visiting, New Jersey now have a dedicated online casino experience that is secure, legal and fully regulated. The standalone FanDuel Casino app will feature casino game staples like blackjack, roulette, video poker and a multitude of recognizable slots and fan-favorite games from the casino floor. Players will receive the same customer support, convenience, safety and security that customers have come to expect from FanDuel, while making it secure and simple for customers to cash out winnings. FanDuel Casino will still be available within the FanDuel Sportsbook app, and new casino players can either signup for a Casino account or use their existing FanDuel Fantasy or Sportsbook account to log in and play. New FanDuel Casino players can play their first day risk-free up to $1,000.
FanDuel Casino is also expanding in Michigan. FanDuel Casino has added live dealer blackjack, roulette and baccarat games for customers living in, and visiting, the state of Michigan. The live casino games launched this past Thursday, July 22, after approval from the Michigan Gaming Control Board. Live dealer casino games give players the social interaction of a casino with the convenience of playing from home.
FanDuel Casino is available today on iOS, Android and desktop in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan and West Virginia.
Scientific Games Corporation and Betfred are partnering to provide full retail and digital sports betting solutions in Pennsylvania. Betfred have chosen Scientific Games as their technology provider to launch retail solutions at Wind Creek Casino in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the first half of 2020 as part of Betfred’s recently announced partnership with the property. In advance of the 2020-2021 NFL season, Betfred and Scientific Games plan to launch digital sports betting for Pennsylvania bettors.
Mark Stebbings, Group COO at Betfred, said, “Scientific Games was the clear choice to provide our sports betting platform in Pennsylvania. OpenSports™ provides best-in-class, reliable technology and services that will help us reach more players and grow our sportsbook presence at speed.”
Betfred’s Pennsylvania players will benefit from Scientific Games’ full OpenSports product suite, which includes the industry-leading online and mobile betting technology and services. Betfred through its partnership with Wind Creek Casino will provide Scientific Games’ over the counter betting solutions and retail betting kiosks in addition to Don Best Sports data feeds, part of the OpenTrade™ branch of the OpenSports product suite.
Keith O’Loughlin, SVP Sportsbook, Digital for Scientific Games, said, “Betfred is one of the UK’s top-performing bookmakers, and their move into the U.S. will spark growth. Once again, a sophisticated and experienced sports betting operator has chosen OpenSports to responsibly grow its U.S. presence with our maximum reliability, scalability, and performance. Together, Scientific Games and Betfred can make a massive impact in the sports betting arena by driving player engagement and putting their digital and retail sportsbooks at the forefront of this expanding landscape. Betfred is synonymous with giving UK customers a great value proposition, and we are confident that they will get great traction in the U.S. with this customer-oriented approach.”
Scientific Games has provided sports betting solutions since the late 1990s and currently serves a total of 35 sports betting customers in 16 countries. The Company is among the first to be certified by the World Lottery Association as a responsible gaming supplier and is the first sports betting supplier to join the Global Lottery Monitoring System, which ensures the integrity of sports betting worldwide.
Parx Casino®, Pennsylvania’s #1 casino, announced the grand opening of the brand new Parx Casino® Sportsbook on Thursday. Parx Casino® Sportsbook looks to set the industry standard with a dazzling 7,400 square foot space that features a sweeping 156 foot HD media wall that can show up to 36 games all at the same time. Additionally, the sleek, state of the art space will feature six live tellers, 18 kiosks, 196 seats, three VIP areas, plus a 38′ x 14′ bar with 38 seats and a dramatic four-tier light design hanging from above. At the bar, look for a full menu of beer, wine, spirits and cocktails. From the kitchen, look for elevated game day favorites, including chicken wings, the Philly cheesesteak, a selection of burgers, and even a vegan Impossible burger. Parx Casino® will cut the ribbon at 3:00pm, and then open to the public at 5:00pm just in time for the Philadelphia Eagles preseason game vs. the Tennessee Titans. The grand opening of this permanent Sportsbook follows the recent launch of the Parx Online Sports Betting App and the Parx Casino real money casino. Parx Casino® is located at 2999 Street Road, Bensalem, in the heart of Bucks County – and only a short drive from Philadelphia and New York.
“Parx Casino® is excited to cut the ribbon on the best sportsbook in the country,” said Senior Vice President of Interactive Gaming & Sports, Matthew Cullen. “Parx aims to set the industry standard in this new and fast-growing arena. The timing couldn’t be better as we head into football season. We felt our local Eagles fans deserved to have the ultimate game day destination to cheer on the Birds. Game day will soar to new heights as we present the absolute best gaming and entertainment experience of its kind. We have worked for nearly two years to expand our portfolio of offerings to give patrons the best of all types of legalized gaming. After the recent launch of online sports betting and our real money online casino, the grand opening of Parx Casino Sportsbook completes this mission.”
Sports fans are invited to place their bets at the largest and most state-of-the-art new sportsbooks in America. When opened, customers can expect their favorite ways to bet on sports at Parx including: spread, moneyline, total, props, parlays and teasers. Sports that will be available will include, among others, Pro Football, Pro Basketball, Pro Baseball, Pro Hockey, College Football, College Basketball, Tennis, Golf, MMA, Boxing, Auto Racing and more. In honor of the grand opening, the first 1,000 people to come through the Sportsbook doors on August 8th will receive a $25 free bet when they fund their online sports betting account with at least $25. The promotion is available to both new signups and people with existing Parx Casino® online accounts. Look for details at the grand opening and on the Parx website.
The new Sportsbook will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week with 10-16 hours of live teller assistance pending on sports schedules. The space can hold up to 422 people, and features a 156 foot HD media wall that can broadcast 36 games simultaneously. The space also features six live teller windows, a full service bar, and comfortable seating for up to 200 people to watch the games. There will be 18 self-service sports betting kiosks available in the new Sportsbook as well as throughout the casino floor, Parx Beer Garden and Parx Poker Room.
From the kitchen, Parx Casino’s Sportsbook will fire up elevated game-day favorites. The opening menu includes Cheesesteak Dumplings $9, Chicken Tenders $10, Chicken Caesar Salad $1, Sports Book Chicken Wings $12, Boneless Chicken Wings $12, Angus Beef Hot Dog $7, Cheddar Pub Burger $10, Crispy Fried Chicken Burger $12, Philly Cheesesteak $12, Shaved Pork and Broccoli Rabe $12, Smoke House Burger $13 and The Impossible Burger $14.
The $10M addition of Sportsbook follows a $58.5M expansion over the last two years that included the Xcite Center, Parx Poker Room, Liberty Bell Gastropub, Oliveto and Parx Casino® Beer Garden.
Rush Street Interactive (RSI), the digital and land-based sports wagering and gaming supplier of BetRivers.com, has deployed a simple and clean solution that allows patrons for the first time to wager using their iOS devices in Pennsylvania. After a player registers on their mobile devices at BetRivers.com, they will be directed to download the GeoGuard Location Validator from the Apple app store that will enable RSI to confirm that players are located within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania when they access BetRivers.com through their mobile browsers, such as Apple Safari or Google Chrome.
“We are excited to offer Apple users in Pennsylvania a way to enjoy the extremely wide range of pre-game and in-game bets offered on BetRivers.com from their mobile devices,” said Richard Schwartz, President of Rush Street Interactive. “In fact, the BetRivers.com platform is the only one in the state of Pennsylvania that currently enables players to bet from their iPhones and other Apple mobile devices.”Apple users who log into their BetRivers.com account will be prompted to install the GeoGuard Location Validator app. Once downloaded, users who open the GeoGuard app will then be prompted to complete the set up with just two more quick steps to follow. Once that’s been completed successfully, players can navigate back to BetRivers.com on their browsers and begin placing bets directly from their mobile browsers. Importantly, once a player completes the process once, they can place mobile bets directly at BetRivers.com without going back to the app.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today released the Annual Racetrack Casino Benchmark Report detailing the impact of Pennsylvania casinos on the Commonwealth’s horse racing industry. The report is now available for download from the PGCB’s web site https://gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov.
The report includes and compares information from calendar year 2018. Among the report’s findings is that tax generated by the play of slot machines amounted to $242 million that was earmarked for enhancements of race purses, assisting breeding operations located in Pennsylvania, providing health and pension benefits for horsemen, and to support agricultural initiatives.
The report also shows that casinos that have racetracks continue to invest in backstretch improvements. Since 2006, operators have spent over $73 million to build or renovate buildings and structures.
The horse racing tracks operating in conjunction with casinos in Pennsylvania are:
Thoroughbred
Parx Casino in Bucks County
Presque Isle Downs & Casino in Erie County
Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in Dauphin County
Harness
The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono in Luzerne County
The Meadows Casino and Racetrack in Washington County
Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack in Delaware County
Additionally, the report and its accompanying detailed statistical summary, provides a 5-year historical summary on:
Attendance at Pennsylvania’s racetracks;
A breakdown of PA Race Horse Development Trust Fund distributions;
Figures for breeding of both thoroughbred and standardbred horses;
Number of live races held in Pennsylvania and number of horses competing;
For the first time in history, sports betting fans can legally place online and mobile wagers in Pennsylvania. SugarHouse Casino, which launched Philly’s first land-based sportsbook in December 2018, went live with PlaySugarHouse.com, the Commonwealth’s first licensed online and mobile sportsbook, on Friday, May 31. Today’s formal launch follows the casino’s successful three-day operational test period and approval from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to officially accept digital wagers.
To celebrate Pennsylvania’s launch of online and mobile sports betting, PlaySugarHouse.com expects to shortly activate no-vig bets on NBA Finals games wagered on in PA, similar to the way this exciting promotion is currently offered in New Jersey. For the entire series, from 10 a.m. ET until tipoff, the main line spread will be priced at +100 on each side, ensuring bettors receive unbeatable value as they try out the site during this busy time in the sports season.
“Since opening, our SugarHouse Sportsbook has been buzzing with sports fans 24/7,” said Rob Long, general manager of SugarHouse Casino. “Whether they’re watching Philly teams on the big screen or following a soccer game or tennis matches live streamed directly from the French Open to PlaySugarHouse.com, the action is round-the-clock, and now with online and mobile sports betting, you can take it with you.”
To get started, online users must visit PlaySugarHouse.com to create an account. Players will receive a match bonus up to $250 on their first deposit.
PlaySugarHouse.com is a proven New Jersey leader as one of the top four performing digital sportsbooks in the state since the market launched in September 2018. In fact, Rush Street Interactive (RSI), the operator of PlaySugarHouse.com, was recently crowned ‘Mobile Operator of the Year in North America’ at the EGR North America Awards 2019. RSI brings the same proven and high quality product, customer service and user experience to Pennsylvania. Due to distinct regulations in the two adjacent jurisdictions, New Jersey players already registered with PlaySugarHouse.com in the Garden State will have to create a new Pennsylvania account to wager in the Commonwealth. Fortunately, players with New Jersey accounts can leverage the personal information already supplied to PlaySugarHouse.com in New Jersey to accelerate their PA account registration.
“Thanks to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s leadership, we are excited to make history in bringing the first online sportsbook to sports fans in the state of Pennsylvania,” said Richard Schwartz, president of Rush Street Interactive. “Rush Street Interactive has grown market share since entering the New Jersey market in 2016, in large part due to the quality of PlaySugarHouse.com user experience and a laser focus on delivering what our players want, a massive range of sports betting options, responsive customer service and fast payouts. We have now brought the same quality, award-winning PlaySugarHouse.com site to players in the state of Pennsylvania.”
On laptops and desktops, players must visit PlaySugarHouse.com to start placing bets. Android users must go to the same PlaySugarHouse.com website to download the new Pennsylvania app to wager on their mobile devices. Apple users can register using their mobile devices, but will need to wager from a desktop or laptop until betting from iPhones and iPads becomes available in the near future. The PlaySugarHouse.com iOS app for Pennsylvania has not been approved yet by the Apple store due to changes in how it enforces policies, but RSI is working diligently to obtain approval.
The expansive selection of sports and all wagers available at SugarHouse Casino’s in-casino sportsbook will also be available via online and mobile; offering millions of betting options on thousands of games, including football, basketball, baseball, hockey, tennis, and much more. In-game sports betting and prop bets are also available. Bettors familiar with the popular kiosk stations at the land-based sportsbook will find the interface similar, intuitive and easy to use.
PlaySugarHouse.com accepts a market leading variety of deposit options, including credit and debit cards (Visa and Mastercard), ACH/e-checks, online banking, wire transfers, pre-paid cards signed up for online, and cash deposits either at the SugarHouse Casino cage or at 7-Eleven and other retail stores in the state. The site expects to soon accept Paypal and Discover-branded credit and debit cards as it does in New Jersey.
SugarHouse Casino’s digital and land-based sport wagering operator is Rush Street Interactive PA, LLC, and its affiliates. RSI owns and operates PlaySugarHouse.com, an online casino and sportsbook in New Jersey, and is known for its quality customer care, including fast payouts. RSI-supported land-based sportsbooks at SugarHouse Casino in Philadelphia and Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh lead the state, having generated over 50% of all retail sportsbook betting in Pennsylvania since the market opened in November 2018. RSI was also the first U.S. gaming operator to launch sports betting under a gaming license in a legal and regulated market in Colombia, South America.
Pennsylvania’s retail sportsbooks posted a solid April, but it is what lies ahead that is most important for the state’s fledgling sports betting industry, according to PlayPennsylvania.com analysts.
“The launch of online sports betting will give the first real window into the overall strength of the industry,” said Jessica Welman, sports betting analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com. “Online sports betting will ultimately transform the market and put it more in line with Nevada and New Jersey, the country’s two largest sports betting markets.”
In what should be the final month before online sports betting launches, Pennsylvania’s retail sportsbooks attracted $36.8 million in April bets. That is down 17% from the record $44.5 million in March, according to official reporting released on Thursday. The vast majority of action came from baseball’s first full month, the Final Four, and the beginning of the NBA and NHL playoffs. In legal jurisdictions such as Nevada, April is typically a slower sports betting month than March.
April bets generated $4.2 million in revenue, down from $5.5 million in March and $1.9 million in February, and injected $1.5 million into state government coffers, down from $1.99 million in March.
The launch of the first Pennsylvania online sports betting app is expected within days or weeks, and more online sportsbooks will soon follow suit. Online betting has proven to be critically important in New Jersey, where more than 80 percent of sports bets are made.
Assuming Pennsylvania bettors show a similar fervor for online betting as their neighbors in New Jersey, the impact will be a game-changer.
“There is no reason to believe that Pennsylvania bettors will behave significantly different than New Jersey in their preference for online sports betting products,” said Dustin Gouker, lead analyst for PlayPennsylvania.com. “The convenience and ease of use of sports betting apps make them appealing to most bettors. And having established operators will help get the online market off on the right foot.”
Rivers Casino, the only sportsbook in the Pittsburgh market, remained the market leader by attracting $8.2 million in April bets, down from $11.9 million in March, and $871,753 million in revenue, down from $1.3 million. Rivers was followed by:
· SugarHouse Casino ($7.9 million handle, down from $9.2 million in March; $871,753 revenue, down from $1.2 million) · Parx Casino ($6.9 million handle, down from $7.96 million; $907,298 revenue, down from $984,339) Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course ($3.9 million handle, down from $5.3 million; $361,249 revenue, down from $521,864) · FanDuel at Valley Forge Casino Resort ($3.1 million handle, up from $2 million handle; $379,731 revenue, down from $449,597) · Harrah’s Philadelphia ($2.7 million handle, down from $3.8 million; $282,740 revenue, down from $326,752) · South Philadelphia Race and Sportsbook ($2.6 million handle, down from $3.6 million; $441,692 revenue, down from $534,253) · Valley Forge Race and Sportsbook ($1.5 million handle, up from $706,089; $195,856 revenue, up from $120,836)
“We expect Rivers Casino to remain strong in the retail market, but online betting will change the market’s dynamics,” Welman said. “The May report will be interesting to see.”
