For now, though, PokerStars PA is still the only legit online poker PA site that offers real money games here. Yet, it makes Pennsylvania the fourth state with legal online poker and the third with online casinos. Other online poker providers like Intertops, for example, are offshore regulated but they do accept players from PA. There’s no shortage of real money online poker action for Pennsylvania players. You can play your favorite poker games, formats, variants, and stakes right now. All you need to get started is an account with one of the best Pennsylvania poker sites online and some money in your account.

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Pennsylvania has made strides to make online gamblinglegal over the last few years, and despite some bumps along the way, it becamethe fourth state to open its doors to legal online poker in 2019. This pagewill cover everything you need to know about the ever-changing online pokerlandscape and how you can find the best place to play.

History of legal Online Poker in Pennsylvania

Given its proximity to New Jersey, it is easy tounderstand why Pennsylvania moved quickly to legalize online gambling once theprecedent was set by its neighbors. The state wanted to reap the benefits oftaxing online gaming, and take advantage of the hole left in the online pokermarket after the DoJ seizure of major poker sites in 2011.

The legislation was introduced in 2017, and in October ofthat year, it passed into law, allowing all forms of online gambling to belegalized. It was in 2018 that the regulations were finalized and applicationswere being accepted. However, there wasn’t a mad rush from the 13 land-basedoperators that were given a first chance at the licenses. This was mainly dueto the cost of the application, which was $4 million per discipline (sports,casino, poker) or a combined price of $10 million for all three. Also, the taxrates for online gaming, which range from 32% to 51% depending on the game, areprohibitive to a company being profitable.

Finally, many of the casinos relented and applied forlicenses, including 7 online poker sites.

Online Poker sites in Pennsylvania

For now, this is a very short list. As of December 2019,the only site open to players from Pennsylvania is Poker Stars. There have,however, been several companies that have been given the approval to launchonline poker, including:

Harrah’s Casino Philadelphia

Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course

Parx Casino

Sands Bethlehem Casino Resort

SugarHouse Casino

Valley Forge Casino Resort

It is expected that all of these casinos, which havechosen online partners, will be live in 2020 and as they launch, we will expandthis page with reviews of each of the sites.

Poker Stars PA

Poker Stars remains the largest online poker site in theworld. While the play in Pennsylvania is currently limited only to residents ofthe state, that isn’t stopping the gaming giant from launching with many of thecompany’s great marketing and software features.

For fans of online poker tournaments, Poker Stars PA haslaunched with a great series of weekly guaranteed tournaments, featuring theirSunday Majors to make someone a big winner each week. The company is also wellknown for its Championship of Online Poker series, and Pennsylvania residentsgot their first taste of that action with the November 2019 PACOOP. You canexpect more of these special tournament events spread out across 2020 andbeyond.

Cash game experts or newbies will find something thatfits them at PokerStars PA. You can try games for free or play cash tables aslow as 1c/2c to cut your teeth. Cash games are spread across all the majorpoker disciplines, such as Omaha and Hold’em. Some of the tables are reservedfor those with larger bankrolls, but there is something for every skill levelat this site.

Online Poker Tournaments in Pennsylvania

If you love to play poker tournaments, then playingonline in Pennsylvania is something you are going to want to join! Some eventsrange in entry fees from mere pennies to hundreds of dollars, and there areeven lots of freeroll tournaments where you can build your bankroll withouthaving to make a deposit. Sit and Go Tournaments allow you to play with smallergroups of players without having to wait for a scheduled time, and with Turboand Hyper Turbo events, you can play an entire tournament in a very shortperiod. Check out the review pages for tournament overviews for each of theonline poker sites in Pennsylvania.

Online Poker Cash Games in Pennsylvania

Cash games tend to be made for much longer sessions thana tournament, and for those who are looking to play online cash games in Pennsylvania,you will find a wide range of games available. These games start atmicro-stakes and make their way all the way up to tables that will require youto sit down with thousands of dollars. The difference between cash games andtournaments is that your chip stack is not finite – if you bust at a cash gametable, you can just add more money to your account.

Payment Options in Pennsylvania

Online poker players in Pennsylvania will be thrilled toknow that there are multiple ways for you to get your money to and from thesites. This is such a relief for many players who were playing in theunregulated market, as the options are faster, safer, and much easier tonavigate. Here’s a sample of the payment methods that are available in theregulated gambling environment:

• Credit and Debit cards: This is the mostcommon form of payment at an online poker site. Some banks still reject thetransactions from online gambling companies, so your card may not work, but forthe most part, VISA and Mastercard are now approving regulated gamblingtransactions at online poker rooms.
• Land-based Casinos: Given that each ofthe online poker sites has to have a land-based partner (those are thecompanies that were awarded the licenses), you can actually head to a localfacility and make your deposits in cash. Not all the casinos will allow forwithdrawals via this method so you should doublecheck with our review pages asnew sites come online.
• Money order/check: For those of you thatare Luddites, this method is for you! It will take longer for the transactionto complete but has an excellent paper trail.
• eWallets: e-Wallet companies like PayPal,Neteller and Skrill became very popular payment methods for online gamblingsites in the 2000s. Despite being shut down by the U.S. government during thecrackdown on online poker, these are now approved methods once again in statesthat have regulated online gaming. Each site may offer one or all of these,butthey each provide a safe, efficient way to process deposits and withdrawals.
• eChecks: This is a common form of paymentwhich takes money directly from your bank account.
• Prepaid cards: If you don’t want to useyour personal accounts for online gambling, you can use one of the approvedprepaid methods to make your deposits at some of the sites.
• Bank wire: This can be a costly method ifyou are making a smaller deposit but will work well for those wanting to put alarger bankroll online.

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Pennsylvania Online Poker FAQ

Why are there so few legal online poker sites in Pennsylvania?

There are several reasons why this is the case today, butit all starts with money. As mentioned earlier, the entry fee for anyonewanting an online poker license in Pennsylvania is USD 4 million, which is whymany of the land-based casinos turned down the opportunity. Add in a very hightax rate on the revenues generated from online poker and the system is set upfor many to fail. This was the case early on in New Jersey, so it seems thatoperators are taking a more conservative approach to the Pennsylvania market.

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When will there be more sites open to me in this state?

This is difficult to pinpoint precisely, but it is safeto say that with the initial success of PokerStars PA, the interest inlaunching sites will increase into 2020. We will also look for more interstateagreements to share liquidity so that the pools of players are larger andtherefore easier to maintain. Check back on this page regularly as we willupdate it with any news that arises.

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How old do I have to be to play online poker in Pennsylvania?

As per the rules and regulations set out by the state,all online players must be at least 21 years of age and be able to prove thatbirthdate to play online poker. It is not likely to be changed anytime soon asthis is also the minimum age for land-based gaming in the state.

Can Pennsylvania residents play sites from other countries?

You cannot access pools of players from other states orcountries, like Canada, for example, from Pennsylvania. There are still acouple of rogue operators that were not caught up in the Department of Justicecrackdown in 2011. However, while Americans can play at these sites, they are acontinued risk of being shut down at any time by the government. Also, becausethey are based offshore, it is increasingly difficult to get money to and fromthe site, with many of the sites opting for cryptocurrency-only transactionswhich are very volatile in nature.

Where can I learn more about online poker?

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There are so many places that you can learn about onlinepoker, but if you are starting out in the game, look no further than this site!We have dedicated part of the site to giving players an overview of the mostpopular games and the basic strategy so that you feel comfortable logging onand playing some free games or micro-stakes tournaments.

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Why can’t I access my account when I am traveling outside Pennsylvania?

All online poker (and other gambling) activities aregeo-fenced in the U.S. This means that if you try to log into your account fromoutside the state line, you are likely going to receive an error message. Noneed to panic, though – this is only to protect players in the state and meantto have operators live up to the letter of the law. If you are playing with asite that has an agreement with another state for shared liquidity (none yetexist in PA, but no doubt is coming soon), then you would be able to log in andplay from any of the states in the agreement.