Pa. Gaming Control Board on legal wagers

The Spark

Professional and college football is preparing for the season, and that means legal wagers for those games. In May 2018, after a six-year-battle, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of New Jersey in Murphey v. NCAA and struck down a decades-old deferral law that prohibited the state from legalizing sports betting.

Richard McGarvey, Deputy Director of Communications for the PA Gaming Control Board says in November 2018, Pennsylvania began offering sports wagering.

“Sports wagering has evolved to where there are many different ways to bet on any particular sport. Football is a good example. They might bet on, when who's going to which team is going to have the next field goal, or which team is going to have the next touchdown, or what is the quarterback going to throw a touchdown on the next one or an interception? So, there's many options for sports wagering. And that's just football, baseball. You can actually, bet on the particular pitch. Will it be a strike? Will it be a ball. Will it be a home run. So, there's many options compared to what there used to be.”

Sports betting has become popular in Pennsylvania since it’s become legal. There’s currently 18 retail locations where you can walk into a casino or an off track betting facility and place wagers.

So you walk in, they'll have tote boards, in other words, telling you what all the wagers are on, on the board. You can look at them, fill out a card and make your wagers and also collect winnings there. But then the way most people do sports wagering is online.”

If you are someone you know has a gambling problem, please:

• Call 1-800-Gambler
• Text 1-800-522-4700

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