How to get a gambling licence in Pennsylvania: fees and steps

There is no standalone online-casino licence in Pennsylvania. Online play is authorised through a chain that starts with a land-based casino certificate and ends at a consumer-facing skin.

• Three interactive game verticals are licensed separately: peer-to-peer interactive games (online poker), non-peer-to-peer games that simulate table games (online table games), and non-peer-to-peer games that simulate slot machines (online slots).
• The Board may issue at most one certificate per category (peer-to-peer, slot-simulating, table-simulating) per Category 1, 2 or 3 slot machine licence; a qualified gaming entity can petition only for a category left unclaimed after 120 days.
• A certificate holder does not have to build its own platform: it can contract a licensed Interactive Gaming Operator (for example a technology brand) to run the games, by agreement approved by the Board.

Laws that apply

• Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act, 4 Pa.C.S. (Title 4, Amusements)
• Act 42 of 2017 (P.L.419, No.42, 30 Oct 2017) · added Chapter 13B (Interactive Gaming), Chapter 13C (Sports Wagering) and Chapter 3 (fantasy contests)
• 4 Pa.C.S. Ch. 13B · certificate 13B13, operator licence 13B14, authorisation fees 13B51, tax 13B52, local share 13B53
• 4 Pa.C.S. Ch. 13C · sports wagering certificate 13C14, authorisation fee 13C61, tax 13C62 (34%), local share 13C63 (2%)
• 58 Pa. Code Part VII (PGCB regulations) · interactive gaming Chapters 801a-819a (819a, progressives, added 10 Jan 2025, effective 11 Jan 2025)
• PA Department of Revenue · administers and collects the gaming taxes

Eligibility for the certificate is closed to the land-based licensee base; the QGE route exists only to fill categories a land-based holder left unclaimed.

• The applicant and its principals, key employees and holding companies must clear a full PGCB background and suitability investigation before any certificate or operator licence issues.
• A qualified gaming entity petitions only for a category left unclaimed after 120 days, pays USD 4,000,000 for each category authorised, and must show by clear and convincing evidence its controls on age, identity and location verification, data security, privacy and internal and accounting controls.

The headline capital decision is the certificate election. A land-based casino pays a single bundled authorisation fee for all three verticals, or buys them one vertical at a time at a higher per-unit cost.

• The USD 10,000,000 fee covers any category and is for a slot machine licensee that petitions within 90 days of the opening of petitions, or within 90 days of its slot machine licence if licensed later; it is one-time and non-refundable, due within 60 days of approval (s. 13B51).
• Buying verticals singly at USD 4,000,000 each is cheaper only if a casino wanted just one or two categories: three singles would total USD 12,000,000 versus the USD 10,000,000 bundle.
• A Qualified Gaming Entity pays USD 4,000,000 for each category authorised (s. 13B51(a)(2)).
• The renewal fee for each certificate is USD 250,000, due every five years (4 Pa.C.S. § 13B51(c)(1)); the authorisation and renewal fees are forfeited on revocation or failure to renew (s. 1326).

A certificate holder that does not self-operate contracts a licensed Interactive Gaming Operator (platform provider) to run the games. This is how technology and casino brands without a Pennsylvania land-based footprint get in.

• The operator licence is USD 1,000,000 upfront with a USD 100,000 renewal every five years; the operator must itself pass PGCB suitability.
• Skins: one certificate may serve several skins or websites, each with Board approval; a certificate holder may contract with several licensed operators and an operator may work with several certificate holders. No per-skin fee or cap is stated.
• Manufacturers and suppliers of interactive gaming systems and content must be separately licensed by the PGCB (manufacturer and supplier licences USD 10,000 each, with the same USD 10,000 on renewal; five-year term).

Online sports betting is a parallel track under Chapter 13C, again anchored to a land-based casino. It carries its own certificate, operator licence and tax.

• Only a slot machine licensee may hold a Sports Wagering Certificate (4 Pa.C.S. Ch. 13C); no numerical cap is stated for sports wagering operator licences.
• Players must be 21 or older and physically located in Pennsylvania.

Tax is charged on daily gross interactive gaming revenue. The effective per-vertical rate is the base interactive gaming tax (§ 13B52) plus a 2 percent local share assessment (§ 13B53).

• The 54 percent effective rate on online slots is the figure operators must model; the rate follows the Board categorisation of each authorised game, decided in the Board sole discretion.
• Online table games and online poker are taxed identically at 16 percent effective, far below slots.
• Tax is computed on daily gross interactive gaming revenue and administered by the PA Department of Revenue; the tax and local share are paid weekly on the previous week gross revenue.
• The Corporate Net Income Tax applies generally (7.49 percent for 2026). Player winnings are taxed at 3.07 percent (the personal income tax rate since 2004), paid by the winner on PA-40 Schedule T; the Department of Revenue guide describes no state withholding on online casino or sports wagering winnings.

Before launch the platform must be certified and approved, geolocation and identity checks must be live, and the interactive gaming equipment must be sited under the PGCB rules.

• Age and location: no person under 21 may participate in interactive gaming or sports wagering; every wager requires age, identity and geolocation verification confirming the player is physically within Pennsylvania (58 Pa. Code Chs. 812a and 809a; geolocation standard 809b.7).
• Equipment location: interactive gaming devices and associated equipment may sit in a restricted area on the licensed facility premises, in an interactive gaming restricted area within the county, or any other area located within the United States, with the Board approving the location of all equipment (58 Pa. Code 809a.3(a)); the statute itself says any other area the Board approves.
• The primary DNS server must sit in a secure data centre, and redundancy, secondary and emergency servers in a secure data centre at separate premises, within the Commonwealth as the rule is worded; disaster-recovery equipment must be in the United States at a location the Board approves.
• Testing and approval: no interactive game, device or platform may be used until the PGCB has tested and certified it. The Board Bureau of Gaming Laboratory Operations tests, or a private testing and certification facility registered with the Board (ISO/IEC 17025, independent of manufacturers) reports for abbreviated certification; the Executive Director approves each game and modification before it goes live. The regulations name no third-party gaming laboratory standard.
• Each wagerer opens a single interactive gaming account after age, identity, residency and address verification; the Board must approve and categorise every online game as a slot, table or peer-to-peer game.

Pennsylvania runs a statutory self-exclusion regime and a dedicated compulsive-and-problem-gambling fund, and imposes responsible-gaming controls on every interactive platform.

• Self-exclusion (58 Pa. Code Ch. 815a): a person may self-exclude for one year, five years or lifetime; one- and five-year exclusions end without further action, and a lifetime exclusion can be petitioned only after 10 years. Operators must refuse wagers from and deny gaming privileges and promotions to a self-excluded person, and report a discovered self-excluded person within 24 hours. The Board keeps one statewide interactive gaming list that binds every licensed online operator.
• Compulsive and Problem Gambling Treatment Fund: each year 0.2 percent (.002) of total gross interactive gaming revenue is transferred out of the interactive gaming tax into the Fund, and a further 0.2 percent to the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (s. 13B54); it is a deduction from the tax, not a separate levy on the licensee.
• Platforms must provide responsible-gaming tooling (deposit and time controls, session information, help messaging) and display a problem-gambling helpline and 21+ messaging.
• The PGCB Office of Compulsive and Problem Gambling (OCPG) approves signage and advertising content relating to problem-gambling assistance.

Operators sit under federal Bank Secrecy Act AML duties plus Pennsylvania suspicious-transaction reporting, and face content controls on advertising.

• AML: casino operators comply with federal anti-money-laundering law; Pennsylvania additionally requires reporting of suspicious transactions (USD 5,000 or over believed to derive from illegal activity or to evade law), and criminalises failure to report as a third-degree misdemeanor.
• Advertising: adverts must not be false or misleading, must carry the gambling-assistance message with the 1-800-GAMBLER helpline, and interactive gaming advertisements directed exclusively to Pennsylvania residents must be co-branded with the name or logo of the certificate holder and the operator in equal size and quality (58 Pa. Code 813a.2(b)); promotion terms are filed with the Board at least 5 days before use, and the OCPG approves the message text and can order an advertisement stopped.
• Ongoing reporting: certificate holders and operators file revenue and tax data to the PGCB and Department of Revenue; interactive gaming tax accrues on daily gross interactive gaming revenue and is paid weekly. Internal controls are submitted for Board approval at least 90 days before commencing, and a change takes effect on the 30th calendar day after a complete filing unless the Board tolls it or the Executive Director rejects it (58 Pa. Code 811a.2(e)).
• Certificates and operator licences run five-year terms. Renewal is an application, due at least 180 days before expiry under the statute and 6 months under the regulations (certificate USD 250,000, operator USD 100,000); a licence with a complete renewal application and fee continues until the Board sends written notice of denial, and fees are forfeited on revocation or failure to renew (s. 1326).

The PGCB is the exclusive regulator of interactive gaming in Pennsylvania and enforces the market through suitability, sanctions and licence revocation.

• The Board may impose administrative sanctions, fines and licence conditions, and may suspend or revoke a certificate or operator licence for violations of Title 4 or the regulations.
• Only PGCB-authorised certificate holders, operators and their approved skins may offer real-money online play to Pennsylvania residents; interactive gaming for the public needs a certificate or licence (s. 13B12(a)). Products with no licence (as of 23 Oct 2026): no licence exists for sweepstakes casinos, most operators own terms do not list Pennsylvania among excluded states, and no PGCB order on them is published (a House bill, HB 2801, would prohibit them); prediction-market sports contracts are called sports wagering offered in violation of state law by the PGCB (5 May 2026), with no Pennsylvania order against an exchange published; offshore sites draw only a PGCB warning (3 Sep 2025). Land-based skill games: the Supreme Court held on 15 Jun 2026 that they fall under the Gaming Act, the State Police compliance deadline was 13 Oct 2026 and enforcement runs from 14 Oct 2026.
• Market context (as of 23 Oct 2026): the Board lists 24 interactive gaming brands, 11 online sports wagering brands and 7 online poker brands; a brand is not a licence holder, and the Board prints no single count of licence holders. Certificate holders are the Category 1, 2 and 3 slot machine licensees and qualified gaming entities, each fronting one or more skins.

The route to a live Pennsylvania online operation, in dependency order. A land-based casino follows the whole chain; a technology or casino brand without a Pennsylvania footprint enters at the operator-licence and market-access steps.

1. 01

   Secure the land-based anchor or qualify as a QGE

   4 Pa.C.S. §§ 13B12(a), 13B14

   Hold a Pennsylvania Category 1, 2 or 3 casino licence, or qualify as a Qualified Gaming Entity for a vertical a land-based casino did not claim. A new online-only entrant instead negotiates market access with an existing certificate holder and prepares to license as an Interactive Gaming Operator.

2. 02

   Choose verticals and make the USD 10M vs USD 4M election

   § 13B51(a) · poker / table games / slots

   Decide which of the three verticals you will run. A slot machine licensee petitioning within 90 days pays USD 10,000,000 for any category; between 90 and 120 days it pays USD 4,000,000 for each category, as does a qualified gaming entity. Three single categories total USD 12,000,000.

3. 03

   File the certificate petition and pay the authorisation fee

   § 13B51(b) · USD 10M or USD 4M

   Submit the Interactive Gaming Certificate petition to the PGCB with the full applicant and ownership dossier and evidence of the financial ability to pay the authorisation fee (USD 10,000,000, or USD 4,000,000 per category). The fee itself is due within 60 days of approval.

4. 04

   Clear PGCB suitability and background investigation

   Title 4 · character and financial fitness

   The applicant, its principals, key employees and holding companies undergo a full PGCB suitability review covering financial stability, integrity and criminal history before any certificate or operator licence issues.

5. 05

   License the Interactive Gaming Operator (or self-operate)

   § 13B12 · USD 1,000,000

   If a third party will run the platform, it files an Interactive Gaming Operator licence and pays the USD 1,000,000 fee (USD 100,000 renewal every five years) and passes its own suitability review. The certificate holder may also self-operate.

6. 06

   Build the platform with geolocation and 21+ verification

   58 Pa. Code Ch. 801a · age 21

   Stand up the interactive gaming platform with age, identity, residency and address verification and geolocation that confirms the player is physically within Pennsylvania and at least 21 years old, and single-account controls.

7. 07

   Site the interactive gaming equipment

   58 Pa. Code Ch. 809a

   Locate interactive gaming devices and equipment in a restricted area on the casino premises, an interactive gaming restricted area in the county, or another PGCB-approved area within the United States, with primary and backup DNS servers in secure data centers at separate premises.

8. 08

   Certify the platform and get PGCB laboratory approval

   58 Pa. Code Chs. 461a, 469a · Bureau of Gaming Laboratory Operations

   Have games, devices and the platform tested by the Board Bureau of Gaming Laboratory Operations or through a private testing facility registered with the Board, then obtain Executive Director approval before launch. The Board must approve and categorise every online game.

9. 09

   Integrate self-exclusion and responsible-gaming tooling

   58 Pa. Code Ch. 815a · § 13B54 · OCPG

   Wire in the PGCB interactive gaming self-exclusion list so no excluded person can register or play, deploy deposit / time / session controls and helpline messaging, and fund the compulsive-and-problem-gambling obligations.

10. 10

    Stand up AML and advertising compliance

    BSA · suspicious-transaction reporting

    Implement federal AML controls and Pennsylvania suspicious-transaction reporting (USD 5,000 threshold), and clear advertising for the mandatory responsible-gambling message and OCPG-approved problem-gambling content.

11. 11

    Launch skins and run ongoing tax and reporting

    §§ 13B52, 13B53 · 54% / 16% / 16%

    Go live with approved skins under the certificate holder domain. Report and pay interactive gaming tax on daily gross interactive gaming revenue (54 percent slots, 16 percent table games and poker, all-in), plus 36 percent on online sports betting, to the PA Department of Revenue, and renew the certificate and operator licence every five years.

Tier-ordered: official government first, then practitioner, then trade media. Every primary figure was read from the in-force text on 26 Oct 2026.