Pennsylvania Poker Sites

Pennsylvania Poker Overview

Pennsylvania permits online poker and in-person poker. You can visit one of the Keystone State’s land-based casinos to compete in poker games and tournaments. Alternatively, just head online to get involved in a busy schedule of events, covering lots of different formats, and variants.

How Old Do I Have to be to Play Poker in Pennsylvania?

You need to be 21 or older to play poker in Pennsylvania. That applies to online poker sites and land-based poker rooms. The minimum age is the same for betting on sports and playing casino games – both in-person and online – in the Keystone State.

Top Poker Rooms in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has a regulated poker market. However, the action must be ring-fenced within the state, so the local sites have small player bases and they lack the liquidity of traffic of the best online poker rooms in the business.

For that reason, we recommend using an offshore poker site instead. There are no laws to stop you from doing so, and you will be offered a far broader range of games and tournaments. These are the best poker sites for players in Pennsylvania:

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Best Poker Site for Pennsylvania Overall

Bovada Casino

125% up to $3,750 Welcome Bonus

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Casino Games: Blackjack, Slots, Roulette +3 more Progressive jackpot, Craps, Baccarat.

Live Dealer: Yes

Payment Options: Visa, MasterCard, Bitcoins +6 more Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, Tether, Bank Transfer, Check.

This is the best overall poker site for players in Pennsylvania. It runs on PaiWangLuo, which is America’s busiest poker network. That means Bovada offers vastly greater liquidity and traffic than the local sites in the Keystone State.

The site provides $2 million in guaranteed prizes each week. You can play regular cash games, jackpot Sit and Go events, all manner of exciting tournaments, and much more. Beginners can benefit from anonymous tables, but sharks will still find plenty of donkeys to sink their teeth into. Bovada offers low blinds on certain games, but there are also high roller events.

New customers can claim a 100% welcome bonus of up to $500 at this feature-rich, user-friendly online poker room. It pays out quickly, the customer service is excellent and the fees are competitive, so Bovada reigns supreme over rival Pennsylvania online poker sites.

• Promotions that are specific to sportsbook, casino, poker room, and racebook
• A full-service poker room with a downloadable desktop app
• Ability to deposit using PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, and CashApp via MatchPay

• Confusing information around credit/debit card fees
• A limited racebook – no greyhound racing and only select wagers

Best Site for High-Rollers in PA

SportsBetting.ag

100% up to $3,000 Welcome Bonus

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Casino Games: Slots, Blackjack, Video poker +4 more Live dealer, Baccarat, Roulette, Craps.

Live Dealer: Yes

Payment Options: Bitcoins, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano +10 more Dogecoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Tether, MasterCard, American Express, Visa, Bank Transfer, Check.

Sportsbetting.ag is another great option for poker players in Pennsylvania. It is perfect for high-rollers, with a maximum deposit of $500,000 and high withdrawal limits too. The tournament buy-ins and table limits are high, so poker players with large bankrolls should feel at home here.

The Chico Network, which includes Sportsbetting.ag and a couple of its sister sites, is not as busy as the PaiWangLuo, but it still exceeds the traffic at local online PA poker rooms. If you like the sound of Sportsbetting.ag, you can claim a 100% sign-up bonus worth up to $1,000. It provides a wide range of recurring promos too, including some exciting bad beat jackpot payouts.

• Sports betting, casino games, online poker, and esports all in one place
• Wide range of promotions, including welcome bonuses, reload bonuses, free bets, and contests
• Access the site from your mobile browser or download the SportsBetting poker app
• Large variety of banking options, including a whopping 12 cryptocurrencies
• High deposit and withdrawal limits

• E-wallet banking methods not available
• While poker traffic is decent, it falls in the medium range
• Varied transaction fees for most payouts

Best Poker Site for Mobile Players

Bovada

100% up to $1,000 Welcome Bonus

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Casino Games: Slots, Video poker, Blackjack +5 more Craps, Baccarat, Roulette, Keno, Live dealer.

Live Dealer: No

Payment Options: Visa, MasterCard, Bitcoins +6 more Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, Ethereum, Secure Voucher, Bank Transfer, Check.

Bovada features one of the best online sportsbooks in the industry, and has betting action for more than a dozen different sports and leagues.

• Multiple welcome bonuses to choose from, including sports, casino, and poker
• More than 300 slot machines from Rival Gaming
• Extensive sportsbook with props builder and live betting
• No fees for withdrawals

• Dedicated racebook for horse race betting on worldwide races
• Bitcoin Exclusive membership, regularly offering you more promotions such as 50% reload bonuses
• Lacks multiple bitcoin withdrawal options

Pennsylvania Poker Sites: A Comparison

How We Evaluate Poker Sites in Pennsylvania

We focus on several important areas when reviewing poker sites in Pennsylvania. They include the user experience, traffic, breadth of buy-ins, features, promos, rake and fees, payout speeds, reliability, and customer service. These are some of the main areas we evaluate:

Availability in Pennsylvania

We only recommend poker sites that you can easily sign up with in Pennsylvania. Our recommendations may be based overseas, but they are designed for American players. All deposits, withdrawals, bonuses, entry fees, and prize pools are quoted in USD, and you will be playing against fellow Americans. Crucially, these sites accept players from across the country – not just in Pennsylvania – so the traffic and liquidity will be much better than locally regulated sites.

Game Variety and Table Types

The best sites cover multiple variants, such as Hold’em, Omaha, Omaha Hi-Lo and mixed games, and they also have Limit, Pot Limit and No Limit action. You can play everything from Deepstacks to hyper-turbo poker. They offer bounties, knockouts and all sorts of other exciting events, so you can always find something new and interesting.

Rake and Bonuses

The rake and fee structure will always be important when we conduct our reviews. We seek out poker sites that offer lower-than-average fees and rake charges. Our reviewers also consider the rakeback programs and bonuses, as they can have a significant bearing on the overall cost of playing poker at a particular site.

Table Features

The user experience is another key area. The best sites make it very quick and easy for you to find suitable games and tournaments, and they allow you to jump straight into the action. They offer value-added features too, such as a customizable setup, live data, bad beat bonuses and so on.

One interesting feature is anonymous tables. This may not be particularly helpful for experienced players hunting for donkeys and fish, but it is a useful feature for beginners.

Is Online Poker Legal in Pennsylvania?

Online poker is legal in Pennsylvania. Gov. Tom Wolf legalized online poker rooms, along with Pennsylvania online casinos and also Pennsylvania online sportsbooks when he signed HB 271 into law in October 2017.

However, all state-regulated poker tournaments and cash games must be ring-fenced within the Keystone State. Pennsylvania has not signed up for the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement – which is discussed below – so it cannot share players with other states that have legalized online poker. That means local PA poker sites tend to feature poor traffic and liquidity.

That leads many Pennsylvanians to use offshore sites like Bovada, Sportsbetting.ag, and Ignition instead. Those sites welcome players from across the United States and Canada on their poker networks, leaving them with far greater traffic. It is perfectly legal for you to use offshore poker sites, as there are no laws that would stop you from doing so.

Land-Based Cardrooms in Pennsylvania

There are 17 land-based casinos in Pennsylvania. They are all permitted to host tournaments and cash games at their land-based poker rooms. These are the largest brick-and-mortar poker rooms in the Keystone State:

Who Regulates Poker in Pennsylvania?

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is tasked with regulating poker in Pennsylvania. It ensures that local operators such as Parx Casino and Rivers Casino adhere to state laws, and it also oversees state-regulated online poker sites.

Offshore poker sites do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. That allows them to welcome players from Pennsylvania and a variety of other states, which is why the largest offshore sites have far greater traffic and thus busier schedules than the local PA online poker rooms. The sites based overseas are regulated in their jurisdictions, such as the government of Curaçao.

Pennsylvania’s Poker Laws Compared to Neighboring States

Three of Pennsylvania’s neighboring states have also legalized online poker at a state level. Delaware and Nevada were the first two states to pass online poker legislation. In 2014, they joined forces to create the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement (MSIGA), which allows them to pool players.

New Jersey was the third state to sign up to MSIGA, followed by Michigan. In 2023, West Virginia became the sixth member of the group. It means that those states have significantly busier local online poker sites than Pennsylvania, with far greater traffic and liquidity, due to the player sharing agreement.

The other states that border Pennsylvania have not legalized online poker at a state level. In New York, players can visit a few upstate land-based poker rooms, but most use offshore poker sites to play online. The same is true in Maryland and Ohio, as it is far quicker, easier and more convenient to play at a trusted offshore site from the comfort of your own home than visiting a land-based poker room at a tribal or commercial casino.

The Future of Poker in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania may feel compelled to join the Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement in the future. It was once the largest locally regulated online poker market in the United States, but it has fallen behind Michigan and New Jersey.

However, Gov. Josh Shapiro, who took office in January 2023, has shown no signs of signing the multi-state gaming compact any time soon. For that reason, regulated PA poker sites will struggle to compete with their offshore rivals, which can offer better traffic, greater liquidity and larger prize pools.

Responsible Gambling in Pennsylvania

You have a wide range of responsible gambling services on hand in Pennsylvania. The Council on Compulsive Gambling of Pennsylvania operates a 24/7 helpline, and you can also find details of regular self-help meetings.

The best online poker sites allow you to set time limits and deposit limits on your account too, which can help you moderate your play.

Poker can be exciting and entertaining, but it is a form of gambling, and it should be enjoyed responsibly. Success will never be guaranteed, even for the best players, so do not use money you cannot afford to lose. If you need support, check out these resources:

• Council on Compulsive Gambling of Pennsylvania
• Gamblers Anonymous
• GamTalk
• National Council on Problem Gambling
• SAMHSA National Helpline

Pennsylvania Gambling Legal Sources

• Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement
• Pennsylvania HB 271
• Pennsylvania 2004 Act 71
• Pennsylvania 2010 Act 1