DraftKings Soft-Launches Online Casino in Pennsylvania

DraftKings has been granted with an online casino soft-launch by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, scheduled to take place in the time interval of 2 -10pm Wednesday and 1-11pm Thursday, local time. Provided that the online gambling operations are working according to the expectations of the regulator during the two-day test period, the sports betting operator will permanently launch its new digital product starting Friday.

Back in November, the sports book operator launched its mobile app in Pennsylvania, after receiving a Sports Wagering Operator License by the Gaming Control Board. With the imminent launch of its online casino, DraftKings will expand on its gaming operations in the state.

Penn National Market Access

The online casino will be operated under a skin from Hollywood Casino at the Penn National Race Course, to further utilize the multi-year deal signed between Penn National Gaming, and DraftKings. Under the terms of the deal, both companies will share market access to states they both are legal or are going to be legalized. Indeed, last year DraftKings’ digital product entered the Keystone State through the Penn National’s Meadows Racetrack & Casino.

In July, Hollywood Casino was the first to launch an online casino in the state, and now DraftKings is the 10^th to provide iGaming. Initially the online casino gaming did not have an impressive start in Pennsylvania, with just several operators showing interest, but now the markets seems saturated.

DraftKings Product Versatility

Boston-headquartered DraftKings has some experience in the vertical, as it runs an online casino in New Jersey, where there is a variety of product offerings including a wide range of table games, on top of the nearly 200 slot games. DraftKings will not offer that much in Pennsylvania, though, as the information from the regulator showed it will provide 28 slots and 3 table games.

As the online casino in the state is still in the initial stages, during which operators usually seek to establish clients’ preferences and gaming patterns, before expanding on their product offerings, DraftKings will start small but the variety of its whole NJ portfolio will be utilized in the near future.

The versatility of the sports book operator has once again been proven during the past month, during which due to the suspension of all major sports leagues in the US, as well as top 5 European football leagues, bookmakers were left with almost nothing to offer wagering-wise. DraftKings, however, showed that it can be creative and offer betting on non-traditional sports such as table tennis, as well as other forms of engagement to entertain clients such as free-to-enter pools.

On a side note, Diamond Eagle Corp /DEAC/, the SPAC created for the merger between DraftKings and SBTech, has approved the deal during a shareholder vote April 23. Shareholders of DEAC also decided to relocate the headquarters of the merged company from Delaware to Nevada.