Published: November 4, 2018

Legal sports betting coming to Pennsylvania in December

The latest on legal sports betting in the United States ESPN’s “St ate-by-State Sports Betting Bill Tracker”has Pennsylvania slotted as the first of three states in the “on-deck circle” to legalizing sports betting. (The other two states being Rhode Island and New York).

If you are in the state of New Jersey you can bet on sports now at 888 Sport Sportsbook.

Well, sports fans in “The Keystone State” might be able to make a legal sports wager sooner than expected — as in this year.

According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, fans in the area could get the green light to make their first legal sports bet at the Rivers Casino Pittsburgh, which is adjacent to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ home stadium, Heinz Field, as soon as December 1. The newspaper even circled the Steelers’ Dec. 2 home game against the Los Angeles Chargers as a game that fans could possibly place a legal wager on.

The Post-Gazette further reported that this comes after Rivers Casino Pittsburgh officials got the OK from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board this past Wednesday to begin legalized sports betting. That being said, the Gaming Control Board must still give Rivers Casino final approval and that could pan out to fruition or fall apart.

If Rivers Casino is successful in launching legalized sports betting by its Dec. 1 target date, the next step could very well be making the casino’s sportsbook a permanent fixture on the gaming floor in spring 2019, with online legal sports betting to follow, according to the newspaper.

“Essentially, sports is in our DNA at the property here in Pittsburgh,” Andre Barnabei, Rivers Casino vice president of slot operations, told the Post-Gazette.

He added: “We are very excited.”

The news about Pittsburgh comes after ESPN reported earlier in the year that Pennsylvania state officials could choose to finalize regulations to see to it that legal sports betting takes effect smoothly without any hiccups.

With what the Steelers alone mean to Pittsburgh, the “Steel City” launching legal sports gambling for Pennsylvania should be an incredible launching pad for Philadelphia to eventually follow. We mean, they are two of the most passionate sports cities in the U.S.

https://www.metro.us/bet/news/legal-sports-betting-coming-to-pennsylvania-december