By Kelsey McCarson | Dec 20th, 2019 | 3 mins

BetAmerica Latest Pennsylvania Online Sportsbook Activated

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BetAmerica became the eighth online sportsbook to go live in Pennsylvania this week after completing a three-day soft-launch of its online platform on Wednesday.

The company announced the launch via news release from parent company Churchill Downs Inc. And now that the testing window is complete, BetAmerica is live and online in Pennsylvania for full-scale access.

While BetAmerica’s Android and iOS apps have not yet been released in the state, a spokesperson told Bookies.com that the apps had already been developed and that the company was hoping to release them to Pennsylvania bettors in a matter of weeks, pending standard regulatory approval by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

As it stands now, Pennsylvania bettors have access to BetAmerica’s online sportsbook via the web, with the mobile apps on the way soon.

BetAmerica No Stranger to Pennsylvania

While this week’s soft-launch marked BetAmerica’s online debut in the Keystone State, the company had already established itself on the retail sports betting scene in August, when a BetAmerica-branded sportsbook launched at the Presque Isle Downs & Casino in Erie.

Now, the company will hope to use the knowledge and experience it gained through that partnership to gain a foothold in the state’s increasingly competitive online sportsbook market.

“We’re thrilled to offer the market-leading products and promotions that have proven popular with our players at Presque Isle Downs & Casino to sports bettors all across Pennsylvania,” BetAmerica President Ian Williams said in the release.

“Our online sportsbook platform boasts features including in-game betting, cashouts, and super odds boosts that are certain to be a hit with Pennsylvania’s legion of passionate and die-hard sports fans.”

Pennsylvania Continues to Draw Comparisons to New Jersey

BetAmerica’s launch makes it the eighth online sportsbook to go live in Pennsylvania in just seven months. The state began taking bets at retail locations at the end of 2018 but only started offering online betting options in May 2019. Now, BetAmerica should help add even more competition to a state that is already reaping the benefits of allowing multiples sportsbooks to compete for customers.

While it’s still very early, Pennsylvania continues to show why it could someday compete with New Jersey as America’s mobile betting capital. Primarily, the reason is that the state ultimately followed the same path for online betting as New Jersey did – and, of note for the future, Pennsylvania has a population of 12.8 million, compared to 8.9 million in New Jersey.

So BetAmerica’s entry into the market seems to indicate that sports betting companies remain eager to offer their online sports wagering services in the state, and that’s good news for bettors looking for more choices.

Should that trend continue next year, the number of online sportsbooks in Pennsylvania could very soon grow to match or exceed New Jersey’s current total of 17 online sportsbooks.

FanDuel currently leads the pack in Pennsylvania, taking over half of the total online handle. The next closest competitors are sister sportsbooks SugarHouse and BetRivers, who are in the midst of duking it out for online supremacy with the rest of a quality field that now includes DraftKings, FoxBet, Parx, Unibet and BetAmerica.