If you live in Pennsylvania, you have loads of choice when it comes to online gaming. Whether it’s online sports betting, sweepstakes casino gaming, or a legal Pennsylvania casino, there’s something for everyone, and it’s all accessible by state laws.
I want to specifically look at legal online casinos in Pennsylvania in this article, and I’ve been researching how they work, the legality surrounding them, and which options I think are the best. So, if you’re wanting some good old online casino fun, check out my guide below to learn more!|
Before we look at a specific PA online casino list, I want to go through the legality of the different types of gaming in Penn State. At this point in time, lotteries, poker, and horse racing are all legal. Additionally, you can see details about the big three gaming genres below:
Real money online casinos have been legal in Pennsylvania since 2019, which makes PA one of only 6 states to legalize them. PA residents have an excellent selection when it comes to real money online casinos, and many of the top US brands operate here.
I actually prefer sweepstakes casinos when it comes to casino gaming in the state, as I think they offer more flexibility and can appeal to a wider range of customers. These are completely legal in the state, provided they comply with US regulations. At social casinos in PA, you use virtual currencies like Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins to play the games, instead of real money.
Sports betting is also legal in PA, which means the big trio of gaming genres are all available here! You’re spoilt for choice, and many of the online casinos that operate in the state also have a high-quality online sportsbook. Sports betting was finally legalized in PA in 2018, although there had been provisions for it for years before that.
I’ve created a fantastic PA online casino list for your benefit that includes 5 of the top sweepstakes casinos you can currently play at. Each site has a welcome bonus you can get as a new customer, a robust virtual currency system, and hundreds of exciting casino-style games.
My top legal Pennsylvania casino is Real Prize. This sweepstakes casino has it all – a massive welcome bonus, plenty of games, and an easy-to-use website that’s beginner-friendly. New customers can sign up here and immediately get a 100,000 GC and 2 SC welcome bonus, and you can keep the virtual currencies rolling in with a 5,000 GC and 0.30 SC daily login bonus. The game library is ever-expanding here, and my top picks are the live dealer games from ICONIC21, including Crash Live, Gravity Roulette, and baccarat.
I’m a big fan of Pragmatic Play games, which is why I love this legal Pennsylvania casino. Crown Coins has 100+ slots from Pragmatic, with classics like Gates of Olympus and Wisdom of Athena. However, they also regularly have the Pragmatic Play Drops & Wins tournaments where you can get random prize drops playing the slots, or compete in leaderboards to get even bigger potential prizes. If you click one of the links we have here and sign up to this PA sweepstakes casino, you’ll get 100,000 Gold Coins and 2 Sweeps Coins, which I think is one of the best welcome bonuses available.
While McLuck doesn’t offer any real money prizes, you can potentially redeem your Sweeps Coins if you have a minimum balance of 75 SC and have met the 1x playthrough requirement for bonus SC. You’ll get your first chunk from the 7,500 GC and 2.5 SC welcome bonus, and there’s a decent daily bonus of 1,500 GC and 0.20 SC. This PA legal online casino is my go-to site when I want to play live dealer games. They have an exclusive range of McLuck-branded games created by ICONIC21, including blackjack and roulette. The studio and branding look awesome, and from my experience, the dealers have always been friendly and engaging.
If I want to play PA slots, my number one pick is Jackpota. It has an extensive library of 1,000+ casino-style games, with a big portion of them being video slots. You’ve got modern slots with flashy graphics from developers like Evoplay and Pragmatic, but I think the best slots here are from Playson and 3 Oaks Gaming. You have the legendary Coin Strike series, plus loads of other fun retro 3-reel slots. For promotions, you can start with a welcome bonus of 7,500 Gold Coins and 2.5 Sweeps Coins when you sign up here. I love their progressive daily login bonus too, which can get as high as 2 SC per day if you login for consecutive days.
You don’t need any casino promo codes to get the Moonspin.us welcome bonus – just click one of the links here and complete the registration form. When you’ve done that and verified your ID, you’ll get 60,000 Gold Coins and 3 Sweeps Coins. After that, this operator keeps you stocked up with a healthy daily login bonus of 1,000 Gold Coins and 0.20 Sweeps Coins every 24 hours. For gaming, developers like Playson, BGaming, Booming Games, and RubyPlay provide 1,300+ titles. My favorites here are the arcade games and I love playing titles like Dice, Mines, Plinko, and Crash.
Aside from sweepstakes casino games, Pennsylvania residents also have access to online sportsbooks. They were legalized in 2018, and since then, most of the top brands such as DraftKings and FanDuel have created fantastic online sportsbooks that PA residents can legally sign up for.
While sweepstakes casinos are my specialization, I’ve also spent plenty of time testing PA sportsbooks, and you’ll typically find that you can bet on all the major US pro leagues, including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, and MLS. You’ll be able to find markets for preseason, regular season, and postseason matches, plus heaps of special bets for things like All-Star selections and the end-of-season awards.
Aside from the major US leagues, most PA sportsbooks also support European soccer, golf, tennis, boxing, MMA, motorsports, rugby, cricket, volleyball, handball, plus global events like the Olympics, FIFA World Cup, and Winter Olympics. You’ll find a mix of both pre-match and in-play betting, and even betting on college sports. However, the caveat with college sports betting is that it’s illegal to bet on teams that are based in Pennsylvania.
It’s interesting to see the procession of betting sites and other forms of online gaming in the state, and as we can see from the table below, Pennsylvania has had a long relationship with different types of gambling.
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1855 | Gambling Houses are declared illegal in the state. |
| 1959 | The Race Horse Industry Reform Act allowed the first racehorse tracks to be built. |
| 1971 | The PA Lottery Act legalized lottery games, with the first ticket being sold in 1972 |
| 1988 | Provisions for local fundraising organizations to host games of chance such as bingo, raffles, and pools. |
| 2004 | Slot machines were allowed to be installed at racetracks. |
| 2010 | Racetracks could also have table games, including blackjack and poker. |
| 2011 | Three big online poker sites were ceased and closed by the state. |
| 2017 | The first provisions for online gambling were developed. |
| 2018 | Sports betting officially became legalized in Pennsylvania. |
| 2019 | Online casino laws were finalized, and online casinos finally became legal. |
From my research into this subject, Pennsylvania follows a common trend of other states. Typically, horse racing and racetracks come first and these almost act as a getaway to other types of gaming. From there, we see the slow introduction of physical slot machines and table games at racetracks and lotteries.
After that, as technologies changed and the internet became more prevalent, sports betting was eventually introduced, and online casinos/sweepstakes casinos came last. Compared to other states, Pennsylvania has been incredibly forward-thinking when it comes to the different forms of gambling and there has been some type of related activity here for over a century.
While many other US states still have a long way to go to develop their online gaming offerings, Penn State is pretty much sorted. Online sports betting is legal, you can win real money prizes at online casinos, and there are also lotteries, poker, and sweepstakes casinos. Looking at the overall scope of online gaming, I don’t think there’s any real room for further progression.
The only thing that would be nice is if sweepstakes casinos are given more freedom and are promoted more within the state. I’ve seen this in other states where both real money online casinos and sweepstakes casinos are legal – you’ll find that social casinos often take a backseat, with the big online casino brands taking center stage.
Hopefully, in time, sweepstakes casinos become more accepted and we see more of the major brands pushing their sites in Pennsylvania. I would like this to happen as I genuinely believe that social casinos are THE best alternative to real money gaming and can offer so much in terms of entertainment and gaming potential.
If you want a legal Pennsylvania Casino, I recommend starting with sweepstakes casinos. As I’ve demonstrated above, Penn State residents have access to some of the best social casinos available in the US. Real money casinos and online sportsbooks are also available, but you can sign up to social casinos for free, and then get loaded with Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins via numerous means such as the welcome bonus, daily login bonus, and mail-in bonus.
Real Prize is a great site if you want a consistent daily login bonus, and enjoy live games like blackjack, while Crown Coins specializes in slots and tournaments from Pragmatic Play. McLuck and Jackpota both have a massive collection of retro slots and Megaways slots, while Moonspin.us has loads of fun arcade games like Dice, Plinko, and Mines. Why not click one of the relevant links here and give these PA online casinos a try today?
Yes. Real money online casinos and sweepstakes casinos are both legal in Penn State. This means that, provided you are over 21, you can legally register at these sites and then start enjoying their superb range of casino games.
Yes. Pennsylvania is a little more restrictive when it comes to sweepstakes casinos, and there aren’t as many brands that operate here, but if you live in the state then you can sign up with popular social casinos like Real Prize, McLuck, Crown Coins, and Jackpota.
Yes. Pennsylvania has a wide variety of legal online sportsbooks including some of the best-known brands in the country. Penn State residents can legally sign up to online sportsbooks, provided they are over 21 and then place real money wagers on their favorite teams and competitions.
Not from playing the games. You play using virtual currencies such as Gold Coins and Sweeps Coins, not USD. However, Sweeps Coins often have the chance to be redeemed for cash prizes. You usually need a minimum SC balance, and to have played with your bonus SC a set number of times.
I recommend giving Real Prize, McLuck, Crown Coins, Jackpota, and Moonspin.us a try. These are all quality US sweepstakes casinos that have heaps of promotions, plus varied game libraries with everything from slots and table games to live dealers and arcade games.
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