Pennsylvania’s online poker players’ patience was tested the past 17 months by having only one site to play legally in the state at PokerStars, but another option finally arrived Tuesday morning.
BetMGM went live at 9:45 a.m. with interlinked sites at its BetMGM and Borgata iCasinos, each of which have been providing slots and table games play for months in Pennsylvania. Advertised as BetMGM Poker PA and Borgata Poker PA, they are powered by the PartyPoker platform on both sites, sharing the same games and players and essentially functioning as one new poker option.
The new online poker is monitored over a two-day test period by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, but the sites are fully functioning for real-money play 24/7 as they will be when cleared for permanent play.
It opens up a new dynamic of tournaments and cash games for players who have been limited since November 2019 to the one site of PokerStars. Though those players have the good fortune of living in one of the few states with any legal online poker option, their patience was further tested when Michigan leapfrogged Pennsylvania by having multiple options available — the same ones from PokerStars and BetMGM — within two months after iGaming began in that state this year.