When Will Cashless Gambling Land In PA? Penn National Hopes Soon – Play Pennsylvania

Penn National Gamings CEO flatly said in a recent earnings call, then again in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that his company is working to roll out cashless gambling this year.

Jay Snowden even set a tight timeline but with an escape clause in a forward-looking statement filed with the SEC:

We will be launching the 3Cs (cashless, cardless and contactless) experience throughout the remainder of 2021 at our four casinos in Pennsylvania with the first launch near the end of Q2 2021, pending regulatory approval.

The end of Q2 is a little more than six weeks from now.

Penn National now operates two casinos in PA, the state that houses its headquarters. They are Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course and The Meadows. The companyplans to open a mini-casino in York sometime in August, at the top of the third quarter.

A fourth facility, also a mini-casino, is set to open in Morgantown late in the year, in the fourth quarter.

According to spokesman Doug Harbach, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board currently has no cashless proposals in front of them from anyone.

Harbach said the PGCB is already looking at the cashless alternative, but theres no hard deadline.

He cautioned an operator would need to spell out and get approval for criteria, controls, and equipment. The equipment would need to pass testing in the PGCBs lab. None of that has yet happened.

Without additional elaboration, a Penn spokesman responded to PlayPennsylvanias questions about the timing of their cashless rollout in PA:

As noted, our timeline is pending regulatory approval.'

In late March, Joe Pappano, CEO of leading payment processor,Sightline Payments, toldPlayPennsylvania he believes cashless payment options should arrive in the Keystone State by Q3 2021.

Sightline, regulators, and operators alike expect cashless options to help promote responsible gambling within casinos.

The company has not responded to a recent request for an update on where the rollout now stands.

The Seminole Nations 12 Florida casinos offer cashless wagering via Scientific Games. Some tribal casinos in California are also using various forms of cash-free gambling.

But otherwise, cashless remains mostly in pilot program mode at select Boyd Gamingfacilities inNevada,Indiana, andOhiousing the companys rewards card,BoydPay, which comes with adigital wallet.

Some small Nevada gaming operators use a variation known as a pin debit system supported by ACS PlayOnfor cashless play.

For a quick visual overview of cashless in casinos, see the following video fromPlayUSA.

Lead image credit: AP Photo/Wayne Parry

More:

When Will Cashless Gambling Land In PA? Penn National Hopes Soon - Play Pennsylvania