Is sports betting legal in Pennsylvania?
Yes, online and at casino sportsbooks, for bettors 21 and older. Act 42 of 2017, approved October 30, 2017, authorized sports wagering but barred the Gaming Control Board from allowing it until federal law or a federal court decision permitted it. That happened on May 14, 2018, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban in Murphy v. NCAA. Hollywood Casino at Penn National took the first retail bets on November 15, 2018, and SugarHouse opened the first online test on May 28, 2019.
Where you can bet
Only casino licensees can hold a sports wagering certificate, and each online book runs under one of them. The Gaming Control Board lists 11 online operators: bet365, BetMGM, betPARX, BetRivers, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics, Mohegan PA, SugarHouse and theScore Bet. Bettors must be physically inside Pennsylvania when they bet.
All 17 casinos reported retail sports wagering in the board's July and August 2026 figures, from Presque Isle in Erie to Parx and Rivers in Philadelphia. Racetrack casinos may also take bets at their off-track wagering sites.
Act 42 defines a sporting event as any professional or collegiate event, and it doesn't exclude Pennsylvania schools. Player props on college athletes have never been approved, and the board fined Betway $10,000 for offering them. Board rules bar bets on high school events and on amateur events the board hasn't approved.
Operators pay 34% of gross sports wagering revenue to the state plus a 2% local share assessment, for 36% in total. Revenue is measured after promotional credits: in July 2026 the books won $64.8 million and paid tax on $51.8 million. Each certificate cost a one-time $10 million fee, with a $250,000 renewal fee.
How Pennsylvania legalized sports betting
Casinos first (2004 to 2016)
The Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act (Act 71 of 2004, HB 2330) was signed July 5, 2004. It authorized slot machines at racetracks and other licensed sites and created the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Sports betting stayed illegal under state law and under the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA). In September 2016 the state Supreme Court struck down the Gaming Act's local share assessment on slot revenue, which left the legislature to rewrite it (see the court cases below).
Act 42 of 2017
HB 271 was referred to the House Gaming Oversight Committee on January 31, 2017. The House passed it 142-56 on April 4 and the Senate 38-12 on May 24, and the two chambers then traded amendments for five months. The Senate gave final approval 31-19 on October 25, the House 109-72 on October 26, and the governor approved it on October 30, 2017.
The act added Chapter 13C, the sports wagering law. It limited certificates to slot machine licensees, set the $10 million fee and the 34% and 2% levies, and made 21 the minimum age. Under section 13C11(b), the board could authorize no bets until it published a notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin that federal law had changed or a federal court had ruled that states could regulate sports wagering. Taking bets without a certificate is a first-degree misdemeanor, and a second offense is a second-degree felony. The same act legalized internet casino games, paid fantasy contests, iLottery, video gaming terminals at truck stops, airport gaming and up to 10 smaller Category 4 casinos. It also added "skill slot machine" and "hybrid slot machine" to the Gaming Act's definition of a slot machine and rewrote the local share assessment.
Launch after Murphy (2018 to 2019)
After the May 14, 2018 decision, the board adopted its first temporary sports wagering regulations on May 30 and told casinos on May 31 that they could file petitions. Hollywood Casino at Penn National, near Harrisburg, opened its book without announcement on November 15, 2018, ran a two-day test and launched officially on November 17. SugarHouse in Philadelphia and Rivers in Pittsburgh opened retail books in December 2018. By May 2019 there were eight retail locations.
SugarHouse began a board-supervised online test on May 28, 2019, from 4 p.m. to midnight, through playsugarhouse.com. Rivers Casino Pittsburgh started its own online test on June 25, 2019.
Rules and taxes since launch
The 36% combined rate hasn't changed. The board's August 2026 report still applies 34% and 2% to taxable revenue, and it reported total handle of $509.5 million for July 2026 and $498.5 million for August. New bet types reach the apps only after the board approves them.
Sports betting court cases in Pennsylvania
Mount Airy #1 v. Department of Revenue (Pa. Supreme Court, 2016)
Mount Airy, a Poconos casino, challenged section 1403(c) of the Gaming Act, whose municipal local share assessment on slot revenue varied from one casino to the next (No. 34 EM 2015). After argument on March 8, 2016, the court ruled on September 28, 2016, in an opinion by Justice Wecht, that the assessment was a non-uniform tax barred by the Uniformity Clause of the state constitution. It stayed the ruling 120 days to give the General Assembly time to fix it. Act 42 reenacted and amended section 1403, and it set the sports wagering local share as a flat 2% of revenue.
The skill-game cases (2018 to 2026)
Pace-O-Matic's terminals in bars and convenience stores led to two cases. In POM of Pennsylvania v. Department of Revenue (Commonwealth Court No. 418 M.D. 2018), the en banc court held in 2019 that unlicensed operation of the devices isn't regulated by the Gaming Act, and it entered a final order on January 16, 2024. In the second case, In re Three Pennsylvania Skill Amusement Devices, the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas ordered seized machines returned on March 23, 2023, and the Commonwealth Court affirmed on November 30, 2023, holding the devices weren't illegal gambling devices under the Crimes Code.
The state Supreme Court heard both appeals on November 20, 2025 (Nos. 50 MAP 2024 and 2 EAP 2024) and reversed on June 15, 2026. Justice Wecht wrote for the 4-2 majority that the devices are slot machines, relying on the "skill slot machine" and "hybrid slot machine" terms that Act 42 added, and that operating them outside licensed facilities violates the Gaming Act and the Crimes Code. Justice Donohue concurred in the result. Justice Brobson, joined by Justice Mundy, agreed on the Crimes Code but not the Gaming Act, and Justice Dougherty didn't take part. The court stayed its order 120 days. State Police have said machines outside board-licensed businesses are subject to seizure as of October 14, 2026, unless the legislature acts first. Both definitions came from Act 42, the law that also legalized sports wagering. In December 2025 the board's chief enforcement counsel told lawmakers that any enforcement action over prediction markets would have to account for the skill-game rulings, since many of the same legal questions apply.
KalshiEX v. Flaherty (Third Circuit, 2025 to 2026)
Pennsylvania is in the Third Circuit, so this New Jersey case binds its federal courts. Kalshi sued New Jersey's Division of Gaming Enforcement in March 2025 after a cease-and-desist letter, and Judge Edward S. Kiel granted a preliminary injunction (D.N.J. No. 1:25-cv-02152). After argument on September 10, 2025, the Third Circuit affirmed 2-1 on April 6, 2026 (No. 25-1922). Judge Porter, joined by Chief Judge Chagares, held that Kalshi had a reasonable chance of showing the Commodity Exchange Act preempts state gambling law as applied to its sports contracts. Judge Roth dissented.
New Jersey petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court on September 2, 2026 (Flaherty v. KalshiEX, No. 26-299), and on September 22 the Court extended Kalshi's response deadline to November 9, 2026. Two other circuits have ruled against Kalshi since: the Ninth in KalshiEX v. Assad (Nevada, No. 25-7516) on August 28, 2026, and the Sixth in KalshiEX v. Schuler (Ohio and Tennessee, Nos. 26-3196 and 26-5235) on September 25, 2026. Pennsylvania isn't a party to any of them.
Sage and Thompson v. DraftKings (Philadelphia, 2026)
The Public Health Advocacy Institute filed this suit on March 24, 2026 in the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas (No. 260303384) for two men, Christopher Sage and Terry Thompson, against DraftKings, FanDuel, Genius Sports and the NFL. It claims the apps' live in-game microbets are unreasonably dangerous products. Thompson wagered more than $22 million and lost more than $1.8 million, according to the complaint. All four companies had moved to dismiss by July 22, 2026, and FanDuel also moved to compel arbitration. We found no ruling on those motions as of September 27, 2026.
Prediction markets and daily fantasy
We found no cease-and-desist letter or lawsuit between Pennsylvania and any prediction market as of September 27, 2026. Executive Director Kevin O'Toole of the Gaming Control Board sent the CFTC a letter on April 25, 2025, after the agency canceled an April 30 roundtable, and wrote to the state's two U.S. senators and 17 House members on October 3, 2025. On December 16, 2025 he and two board lawyers told the House Gaming Oversight Committee that every licensee had agreed not to offer prediction markets in Pennsylvania. Chief Counsel Steve Cook said Act 42 appears to let the state tax sports-related futures accepted from Pennsylvania without board approval, and Chief Enforcement Counsel Cyrus Pitre said the board was working with the attorney general toward a possible federal suit for a declaratory judgment on preemption. On April 30, 2026 O'Toole filed comments on the CFTC's advance notice of proposed rulemaking on prediction markets.
Two House bills are in committee with no votes. HB 2497 (Rep. Danilo Burgos, referred May 8, 2026) would require a board license costing $1 million with a $1 million renewal, a 20% tax plus a 2% local share, and a 21 age floor. HB 2711 (Rep. Tarik Khan, referred July 22, 2026) sets a 21 age floor, bans markets on games involving minors or high school teams, on a person's health and on deaths, bars markets that use a gaming company as liquidity provider or market maker, and gives enforcement to the attorney general and district attorneys. Attorney General Dave Sunday signed the 37-state brief backing Massachusetts in its Kalshi case at the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, filed April 24, 2026. The testimony named Kalshi, Polymarket and Crypto.com as platforms operating without board licenses. Novig (Ludlow Exchange, LLC, a CFTC-designated contract market since June 16, 2026) also accepts Pennsylvania users who are 21 or older and builds no vig into its prices.
Players 18 and over can enter paid daily fantasy contests. The board licenses fantasy operators under Act 42, which taxes their adjusted revenue at 15%.
Help with a gambling problem
Call 1-800-GAMBLER, text 800GAM or chat online through Responsible Play Pennsylvania, the board's problem-gambling site, which also runs self-exclusion.
Sources
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board: online sports wagering operators
PGCB monthly sports wagering report, FY 2026/27 (July and August 2026)
Act 71 of 2004, Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act
58 Pa. Code § 1401a.7, prohibited sports wagering activities
Casino Roundtable: PGCB fines Betway for college player props
LegalSportsBetting: July 2026 revenue and promotional deductions
PGCB: board to begin accepting sports wagering petitions (May 31, 2018)
Lebanon Daily News: sports betting kicks off at Hollywood Casino (November 18, 2018)
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: online sports betting gets its first test (May 28, 2019)
Mount Airy #1, LLC v. Department of Revenue, No. 34 EM 2015 (Pa. September 28, 2016)
Pennsylvania Supreme Court opinion, skill games, Nos. 50 MAP 2024 and 2 EAP 2024 (June 15, 2026)
Pennsylvania Capital-Star: skill games are unlawful (June 15, 2026)
Pennsylvania Capital-Star: skill games deadline and State Police warning (September 21, 2026)
Third Circuit opinion, KalshiEX v. Flaherty, No. 25-1922 (April 6, 2026)
Ninth Circuit opinion, KalshiEX v. Assad, No. 25-7516 (August 28, 2026)
Sixth Circuit opinion, KalshiEX v. Schuler, No. 26-3196 (September 25, 2026)
Public Health Advocacy Institute: Sage and Thompson v. DraftKings complaint
Philadelphia Inquirer: lawsuit over microbetting (March 30, 2026)
Gambling Insider: FanDuel and DraftKings move to dismiss (July 22, 2026)
PlayPennsylvania: PGCB letter after the CFTC roundtable was canceled (May 5, 2025)
PGCB: letter to Pennsylvania's congressional delegation (October 2025)
PGCB testimony to the House Gaming Oversight Committee (December 16, 2025)
PennLive: gaming board warns casinos against prediction market apps (December 16, 2025)
PGCB: comments to the CFTC on prediction markets (May 5, 2026)
Multistate amicus brief in Massachusetts v. KalshiEX (April 2026)