Valley Forge Turf Club expected to debut a brick-and-mortar sportsbook in the coming weeks, becoming the fifth wagering location in the Philly area

Sports betting is set to arrive to an eighth location in Pennsylvania after the state Gaming Control Board approved during its Wednesday scheduled meeting the license application of Greenwood Gaming to operate wagering at its Valley Forge Turf Club in Oaks.

The off-track betting parlor will be Greenwood’s third sports betting location after it launched sportsbooks at Parx Casino in Bensalem and the South Philly Turf Club in Philadelphia.

Greenwood is expected to open its latest brick-and-mortar betting facility in the next few weeks. The sportsbook at the Valley Forge Turf Club will be the fifth operation of this kind in the Philadelphia region.

Yesterday’s approval of Greenwood’s betting license application came as part of a larger gambling expansion push in Pennsylvania. The state legalized sports betting and online gambling in the fall of 2017, well ahead of last May’s ruling of the US Supreme Court that struck down a long-standing federal ban on sports betting.

Although Pennsylvania did not need to prepare and approve a sports betting legislation in the wake of the landmark SCOTUS decision, it took the state up until late 2018 to launch first legal sports betting. Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course was the property to debut Pennsylvania’s first sportsbook in mid-November.

While February financial data is still unavailable, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s January report showed that the state’s operational sportsbooks handled $32 million in wagers that month. In comparison, neighboring New Jersey recorded more than $400 million in bets in January. Of that, $305 million was placed online. In other words, Pennsylvania’s sports betting market will likely receive a major boost once digital betting goes live.

When Is Online Sports Betting Coming to Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Executive Director Kevin O’Toole said during a budget hearing before the State House Appropriations Committee that took place late last month that regulated online gambling and sports betting will go live in the state around July 1.

The state gambling regulator has said previously that it would first handle all applications for brick-and-mortar betting operations before moving on with the ones for the conduction of digital wagering services.

However, last month’s publication of a reinterpretation of the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 has further delayed the launch of online gambling in the state. The Department of Justice’s revision of the federal law basically covered interstate gambling. Pennsylvania decided to wait a little bit longer before giving the green light to online betting and gaming services, giving license applicants time to make sure that their operations will be fully compliant.

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