DraftKings Sportsbook Set To Enter PA Online Sports Betting Market
On Wednesday DraftKings’ plans to enter the PA online sports betting market finally came to fruition.
DraftKings’ path into Pennsylvania goes through Penn National Gaming, Inc., the company providing DraftKings with a non-primary license to offer their sports betting services to Pennsylvania residents as part of the 10-year deal. There’s speculation that bettors will also gain access to DraftKings Sportsbook offline, via The Meadows, Penn National’s land-based casino property.
“With dozens of states having already legalized sports betting or poised to do so in the near future, this expanded partnership ensures DraftKings is positioned to quickly enter new markets,” said Ezra Kucharz, DraftKings chief business officer in a press release. “Penn National Gaming brings tremendous resources, people and experience to the partnership and, as we finalized the terms of the deal, it was abundantly clear there is a real synergy between our two companies that bodes very well for the future.”
DraftKings’ part in the deal is a small piece of Penn National’s more extensive plans. Penn National Gaming not only inked a deal with DraftKings in Pennsylvania but also entered into multi-year, multi-state “skin agreements” with PointsBet, theScore, and The Stars Group outside of the Quaker State.
As Sports Handle’s Matt Rybaltowski explains, “a skin agreement provides an online sportsbook operator with market access in a certain jurisdiction under a land-based casino’s existing license.”
Some states like Indiana and New Jersey allow land-based casino operators up to three skins, but Pennsylvania only allows one for each operator.
Agreement goes beyond PA online sports betting market
In the deal, DraftKings gets first dibs on skins when and if online sports betting goes live in Florida, Missouri, Ohio and Texas. DraftKings is third in line in Indiana and second in West Virginia.
PointsBet gains access to five states — West Virginia, Louisiana, Indiana, Missouri and Ohio — in a 20-year deal with Penn National.
Penn also has a 10-year deal in place with theScore covering Indiana, Kansas, Iowa, Maine, Louisiana, Texas, Ohio, Mississippi, Michigan, Missouri and Massachusetts.
At first glance, PointsBet and theScore are linked up with Penn National for twice as long as DraftKings, but the DraftKings deal is subject to a 10-year extension after the first decade is complete.
Another difference between Penn National’s agreement with DraftKings and those with Draftkings’ competitors is Penn’s equity position in the companies.
Penn National takes a strategic equity stake of 5.28% in PointsBet and 4.7% in theScore. No such equity stake is taken in DraftKings.
DraftKings Sportsbook waits for PA online sports betting approval
The announcement comes on the heels of FanDuel Sportsbook debuting in PA just last week (use our FanDuel promo code for a risk-free bet up to $500). In this case, FanDuel partnered with Boyd Gaming and Valley Forge Casino.
Other PA online sports betting sites went live on July 15, nearly two years after the state passed sports betting regulations in October 2017. Pennsylvania tried to arrive early to the party, passing the gaming expansion bill in preparation of the eventual United States Supreme Court decision to strike down PASPA, the federal law banning full-fledged sports betting outside of Nevada, in May 2018.
While FanDuel, SugarHouse, BetRivers Sportsbook and others are already operating in Pennsylvania, DraftKings must wait to be approved as a sports betting operator from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
DraftKings showed their cards earlier this summer when they turned in paperwork for two separate PA gambling licenses.
With most things tied up on DraftKings’ end, and the next Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board meeting scheduled for Aug. 14, PA sports bettors may be shopping lines at DraftKings Sportsbook in just couple of weeks.
In the meantime, New Jersey visitors interested in NJ sports betting can use our DraftKings Sportsbook promo code for a risk-free bet up to $500.