Pennsylvania has a history of tightly restricting gambling activity. The fact the Keystone State ended up at the forefront of the sports betting revolution in the United States shows how attitudes have changed. These days betting on MLS is absolutely legal in Pennsylvania, but how did this come to be?
Up until the 1960s all gambling was banned in the state. Horse racing was the first sport to break this trend, with betting legalized in 1963. Even then, betting was restricted to the racecourse. A state lottery came along in 1971 as a way to generate tax revenue, but since this is a very ‘soft’ form of gambling, it didn’t feel like a huge step forward.
It wasn’t until 2004 that things opened up. This is when casino gambling laws came into effect, allowing slot machines in designated venues. The law was expanded to include traditional table games in 2010, so fully fledged casinos could operate.
This is how things stayed for a while due to the federal law on sports betting. But when Tom Wolf became Governor of Pennsylvania in 2015, he demonstrated incredible foresight. His actions meant that the Keystone State was one of the first in the country to make sports betting legal.
Tom Wolf and Act 42
In October 2017, Tom Wolf signed a bill into law that legalized sports betting in the state should the federal law ever be overturned. It was called Act 42. The legislation allowed for both online and in-person betting, with licenses granted to casinos and racetracks.
This meant that when the PASPA bill was struck down by the U.S Supreme Court on May 14th 2018, Pennsylvania could get straight to work.
Wolf had seen the potential for this scenario coming to light, and knew that sports betting could raise much needed funds for the state. Since all of the legal hurdles had been jumped on a state level beforehand, there was little work left to do. It took just 6 months for sports betting operators to get going, with the first legal bet in the Keystone State placed on the 17th November 2018.
Wolf can’t take all of the credit as discussions had started 5 years earlier, but he was the one who pushed it forward and ultimately signed on the dotted line.
To begin with, bets could only be placed at specific venues. It took a little longer for online betting to be rolled out. This was due to the complex nature of betting online or by mobile. They needed robust geolocation technology to ensure that all online bets were placed within state borders. Developing and testing these systems took time.
Online sportsbooks also needed to partner with licensed physical casinos, so it took time for these deals to be set up and for their sportsbook platforms to be developed.
Online betting was first made available to Pennsylvanians in May of 2019. SugarHouse Casino (now Rivers Casino Philadelphia) was the first operator to launch an online platform.
Pennsylvania was the 6th state in America to legalize sports betting.
Rules and Taxes
Despite a rush to market from the many operators providing betting services there, Pennsylvania is not a cheap place to trade.
It costs $10,000,000 for a license from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, which prices many smaller operators out of the market. It doesn’t stop big names like these though:
- Bet365 Sportsbook
- Betfred Sportsbook
- BetMGM Sportsbook
- betPARX Sportsbook
- BetRivers Sportsbook
- Betway Sportsbook
- Caesars Sportsbook
- DraftKings Sportsbook
All have partnerships with physical casino brands, and there are more besides. Sports betting has been a big hit in Pennsylvania, with tax revenues hitting a record breaking $2.36 billion in the fiscal year 2023-24, long after the law change.
While this is partly explained by the popularity of sports betting in Pennsylvania, the state also has a 36% tax on gross gaming and sports betting revenue. The average across America is around 10%, so as I said, it’s expensive to trade here. Those tax dollars go towards things like like property tax relief, educational funding, and responsible gaming initiatives.
As with everywhere else in America, anyone gambling must be over the age of 21 and have their identity verified when they create an account. It’s legal to bet on college teams here too, unlike in some other states, although betting on high school sports, unregulated sports, and non-sporting events such as TV shows and politics is not allowed.
MLS Teams in Pennsylvania
There is one, and that is Philadelphia Union.
However, the club is literally on the bank of the Delaware River which also happens to be the state line between Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This means that any Pennsylvanians living the extreme edges of the state are actually closer to the likes of Columbus Crew and Toronto FC. The Subaru stadium where Philly Union play their soccer isn’t even in Philadelphia, it’s in Chester, a neighbouring city in Delaware County.
Still, Pennsylvanians have an MLS team they can support if they feel state loyalty towards them, and they can bet on them too thanks to Tom Wolfe’s prescience in 2017.
Philly Union launched as an expansion team in 2008, competing in the league for the first time in 2010. For their first decade in existence the Union didn’t make much of an impact. They came runners up in the US Open a handful of times, but only managed average performances in the league.
Then in 2020 they had their best season yet, coming first in their conference and having the best regular season record in the whole league. This won them their first trophy, the Supporter’s Shield. They came second in their conference in 2021 but won it again in 2022, although didn’t quite do well enough for a second Supporter’s Shield. They came runner up in the MLS Cup that year too.
Union have healthy rivalries with the likes of New York FC and New York Redbulls, as well as DC United, since these teams are the closest.