Gear up, Pennsylvania: PA online sports betting is here.
SugarHouse Sportsbook in Philadelphia, one of the state’s leading retail operations, rolled out the Keystone State’s first online sportsbook Tuesday.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB)began testing the product Tuesday afternoon. Soft-play testing will span three days, and if it clears testing, the online sportsbook becomes fully operational and runs 24 hours a day.
Here are the PlaySugarHouse online sportsbook hours during testing:
- Tuesday: 4 p.m.-midnight
- Wednesday: 2 p.m.-midnight
- Thursday: noon-midnight
A peek into PlaySugarHouse sports betting
Similar to its New Jersey online product, PlaySugarHouse is powered by Kambi Group. And the ties between the two online sportsbooks do not end there.
PlaySugarHouse offers a wide array of sports, from the major pro leagues to NCAA to auto racing and tennis.
To boot, bettors in Pennsylvania can place traditional wagers, such as moneyline and parlay bets, as well as futures and in-play.
With SugarHouse rolling out its online sportsbook, Pennsylvania becomes the third state, joining Nevada and New Jersey, to expand its legalized sports betting industry to the online world.
How to sign up for either PA sports betting app
As simple as it will become to wager from home, so, too, is the sign-up process.
For now, only Android users can download the online sportsbook, as Apple apparently stands in the way of an iOS product. To access PlaySugarHouse, users can visit the PlaySugarHouse page in browser and click the “Download Our Free App” button at the bottom of the screen.
Or, if you want to bet on your tablet or computer, you can set up an account and play via desktop.
To set up your account, you want to have this information at the ready:
- Name
- Address
- Date of birth
- Phone number
- Last four digits of Social Security number
Rest assured, this personal information is secure. The operators need it all to confirm identity while also adhering to federal law that requires casinos to obey anti-money laundering protocols as financial institutions.
After creating a screen name and a password, a new user then answers several security questions. From there, customers have access to their online betting account.
Customers who own an existing New Jersey account can quick register for the Pennsylvania product.
The quick registration process is a great way to save time. To be clear though, you have to have separate accounts in both New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The two accounts are not linked.
Deposits, withdrawals, and wagers can all be made within the app as well as via desktop. You can be out of the state to download the app, but depositing and betting will need to transpire inside PA state lines.
Be warned, the deposit options are currently limited to credit cards, SugarHouse prepaid card, and cash at the cage. The hope is other options like ACH and PayNearMe will be added in the coming weeks.
Geolocation and ID checking
As noted, PlaySugarHouse uses customers’ personal information for verification purposes.
Operators only use or disclose this information to perform identification checks or to prevent fraud.
In addition, bettors using either PA online sportsbook must enable location services on their desired device. This allows geolocation services within the apps to confirm that users are located within state borders.
Regardless of location, anyone can sign up for a PlaySugarHouse account, so long as those users are at least 21 years old. That said, customers can only place wagers within Pennsylvania state lines.