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Philadelphia’s Parx Casino to start taking sports bets next week

The official launch would make Parx the second casino in Philadelphia to offer sports wagering, after SugarHouse, and the fourth in Pennsylvania.

FILE photo shows Kiel Reijnen, winner of the men's race in the Parx Casino Philly Cycling Classic. Sports betting is expected to officially launch at Parx Casino, in Bensalem, on Jan. 10.
FILE photo shows Kiel Reijnen, winner of the men's race in the Parx Casino Philly Cycling Classic. Sports betting is expected to officially launch at Parx Casino, in Bensalem, on Jan. 10.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff
    by Staff Reports
    Published 

Parx Casino, in Bensalem, is set to officially launch sports betting Thursday beginning at 1 p.m.

That would make Parx the second casino in the Philadelphia area to launch sports wagering, after SugarHouse launched last month, and the fourth in Pennsylvania. The state started taking applications for sports-wagering license after the U.S. Supreme Court in May declared a federal ban unconstitutional.

The official launch at Parx would follow Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board testing and approval which is expected on Tuesday and Wednesday from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. The testing days are open to the public.

“Parx Casino is thrilled to launch legalized sports betting on the property next week,” said Matthew Cullen, Parx’s senior vice president of interactive gaming and sports. “Sports betting will first go live at our main property, and then roll out in the South Philadelphia Turf Club and then later at the Valley Forge Turf Club.”

South Philadelphia Turf Club is just a few hundred feet from the venues for the city’s professional sports teams.

In the first two weeks after Hollywood Casino, at Penn National Race Course near Hershey, launched sports betting in November, bettors wagered $1.4 million according to data released by the Gaming Control Board last month. That translated into adjusted gross revenue after payouts of $508,996.60 for Hollywood Casino with the state collecting $183,239 in taxes during that two-week period.