For some time now prominent New Jersey sportsbooks like FanDuel, DraftKings and Play SugarHouse have been expanding into Pennsylvania. This week Parx Casino, a leading Pennsylvania gaming operator, went the other way.
Partnered by GAN, an award-winning US Internet gaming software developer, it has opened in the Garden State.
Talking to the media, Dan Smurtif, CEO of GAN, said it was it was logically correct for Parx to extend “their reach into New Jersey’s fast-growing and established Internet gambling market.”
“This represents an incremental revenue opportunity for GAN. It is a logical extension of our technology infrastructure,” he added. “To serve Parx Casino patrons who routinely cross the invisible border between these two populous states.”
Parx Casino’s first online sports-betting platform was launched in Pennsylvania in June not long after SugarHouse had led the way. Its second makes it the 16th online betting operator to have opened in the US’s most dynamic sports-betting state.
Sports betting in NJ has soared
DraftKings launched NJ’s first online sportsbook a month after US sports betting prohibition was ended in May last year. Since then, sports wagering in NJ has soared beyond expectations.
In 15 months it has attracted some $3.5 billion in betting handle, 80% via the internet. Furthermore, in three of the last four months it has out-performed even Nevada, the long-time grand-daddy of US sports betting.
As one of the 13 states now offering sports betting in the US, Pennsylvania has been slower getting off the ground than New Jersey. This in part was due to the fact that online sporting betting there was only legitimized some four or so months ago.
It may also have been due to the fact that the Keystone State’s 36% sports tax is the highest in the land. New Jersey taxes in-person, land-based wagering at 8% and online betting at 13% – and that’s not the lowest around.
Pennsylvania’s population bigger
However, Pennsylvania does have some of America’s leading sports teams like its powerhouse Philadelphia Eagles. And with 12 million residents against New Jersey’s 9m, it also has a larger online market. Never forget that in a society that prohibits betting across state lines, population density can be a major success factor.
Now that it has got online wagering up and running Pennsylvania betting is blooming. And it’s no co-incidence that its success is being spearheaded by NJ’s influential sportsbooks FanDuel and SugarHouse.
