Is sports betting legal in Pennsylvania?

What the law allows

Sports wagering in Pennsylvania comes from Chapter 13C of Title 4 of the state's consolidated statutes, added on 30 October 2017 by Act 42 of that year. The chapter lets the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board authorize the state's slot machine licensees, the casinos, to take sports bets at their own facilities or through an Internet-based system, which is the law's way of saying websites and phone apps. The statute counts professional and collegiate games as sporting events.

The Board's first sports wagering report, published on 18 December 2018, covered bets taken from 15 November 2018 at Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course.

The age is 21. The statute says it plainly: no one under 21 may make a wager on sporting events through authorized sports wagering, or even walk into the sportsbook area of a casino.

Betting from your phone

The law also says every bettor using a licensed book must be physically inside Pennsylvania (or in a place the Board has a sports wagering agreement with). So the app will check where you are standing before it takes the bet, and it will refuse if you've driven over the line into Ohio or New Jersey.

The Board keeps the list of licensed online sportsbooks on its own site, and it tells bettors to look for the Board's logo on a book's site before depositing. I'd check that list rather than trust an ad. It is short, and it is the only list that counts in the state.

Your winnings are income, and I'd keep a record of every bet for that reason alone. The IRS says gambling winnings are fully taxable.

Where the offshore books fit

Offshore books take bets from Pennsylvania too, and they are not licensed by the Board. That matters when something goes wrong. If a licensed book slow pays you or voids a winner, you can take a complaint to the Board that licensed it. With an offshore book there is nobody in Harrisburg to call. I've always told players the same thing: know who holds the book to account before you hand it your bankroll. Using a VPN to get around the location check is its own problem, and the VPN question covers why.

If the betting stops being fun, call 1-800-GAMBLER, the number the Board gives on its Responsible Play site, or read our page on responsible gambling.

*Checked against the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and Title 4, Chapter 13C on 28 October 2026. Laws change; this page is re-checked every quarter. This is not legal advice.*