The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is live in Pennsylvania for the first time after being approved by the state’s regulator.
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) gave the green light to the brand’s poker site, which is operated by Caesars Interactive Entertainment and powered by 888 and its Poker 8 client, following a field trial. It is the first deployment of Poker 8, which was launched in Europe last year, in North America.
WSOP, which is partnered with the Harrah’s Philadelphia casino, becomes the fourth online poker site in Pennsylvania following PokerStars’ entry in November 2019 and the BetMGM and Borgata Poker launch in April 2021.
Pennsylvania becomes the fourth state in which WSOP is operational, following Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey. It becomes the fourth operator to roll out online poker in the state, after Mount Airy (in partnership with PokerStars), Penn National’s Hollywood Casino, and Rush Street’s Rivers Casino Philadelphia.
“We are thrilled to be opening up WSOP.com to the state of Pennsylvania,” said Ty Stewart, senior vice-president of the World Series of Poker at Caesars Entertainment.
“The real winners in this expansion are the players who join us at WSOP.com. Our team is laser-focused on providing the most value to poker players in the state and are confident in the potential of our online poker product.”
The expansion in Pennsylvania comes six months after 888 agreed to a multi-year extension of its exclusive B2B poker partnership with Caesars Interactive. At the time, 888 said it would bring its Poker 8 software to the US following its launch in Europe in November 2020.
Speaking about WSOP’s entry into Pennsylvania, Yaniv Sherman, 888’s senior vice-president and head of US, said he was hopeful the state would soon allow pooled liquidity between states.
“I am delighted that, in partnership with our long-term, strategic partner Caesars, we have launched the market-leading WSOP brand into Pennsylvania, which represents 888’s fourth state in the US market,” Sherman said.
“The success of this long-term partnership is a strong endorsement of our proprietary technology and our US development strategy through both B2C and B2B channels.
“New states coming online represent an opportunity to our unique interstate poker network, which helps to significantly increase liquidity of poker players across our award-winning poker platform. This enhances the overall user experience and also helps us to continually refine our offer to provide an engaging and hyper-relevant product.”
Sherman added that 888 would look to continue to pursue further expansion opportunities across the US, through its partnership with Caesars.