An Introduction to Pennsylvania Sports Betting Laws For 2025
The legal status of Pennsylvania sports betting can be a confusing landscape to navigate through. Between state laws, federal laws and offshore options, it can be hard to tell what is and is not legal for Pennsylvania residents who are seeking legal sports betting opportunities without traveling to another state.
This guide will break down each applicable federal law, and explain how it affects your options, as well take a look at state gambling laws and their affect on the legal betting options for PA residents.
Getting the information into manageable pieces that don't require a law degree to understand is half the battle. Many players give up before they have a chance to start simply because accurate and up to date information is not easy to access. This guide takes care of that for you.
The information on this page can also be applied to our guide on Pennsylvania football betting.
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Is Pennsylvania Sports Betting Legal?
Yes, there are legal sports betting options available to residents and visitors to Pennsylvania, as long as you know where to place your bets. There are several levels of laws to consider when determining the legal status of sports gambling in the Keystone State.
We intend to break it down for you piece by piece so that it all makes sense. We've started with the state laws governing sports betting, and then followed with a discussion on each of the applicable federal laws which affect your options in Pennsylvania. If you are going to participate in sportsbook gambling the legitimate, legal way, then you need to understand what is and is not legal.
The legality of your betting actions is actually determined by where you place your bets. That will make a lot more sense once you finish reading the information below.
Pennsylvania Sports Betting Laws at a State Level
This section of our guide will actually be fairly simple to digest for you. What it boils down to is that the state does not have any laws expressly addressing sports betting online or offline. In fact, this is the case in many states throughout the country, mainly because there are already federal laws in place to govern US based sports betting, and state laws would not serve much purpose, as state laws are not able to supersede existing federal statutes.
The one state gambling law that does apply is the state's legal gambling age. Pennsylvania has imposed a minimum legal gambling age of 21 years old. Anyone attempting to engage in any type of gambling in Pennsylvania prior to your 21st birthday is directly violating the law.
This law also supersedes any online gambling site policies which accept players as young as 18 years old. Under age gambling is breaking the law, and is subject to prosecution. You can review the state's laws and statutes on the Pennsylvania state legislature website.
Federal Laws Affecting the Legal Status of PA Sports Betting
There are two primary federal laws that govern sports betting in the United States. These are the laws of the land, and are enforced as such. We do not include the UIGEA bill as it does not specifically address sports betting. It also does not prohibit US residents from participating in licensed online sports betting, and is hence not applicable to our discussion. The two laws that we will cover are the Federal Wire Act and the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act.
Federal Wire Act of 1961
This law was created in an effort for law enforcement to curtail illegal sports gambling rings that were being operated by organized crime families via telephone communications. The law successfully achieved the goal for which it was created, and has remained a federal law ever since.
The Federal Wire Act essentially prohibits receiving any type of bets or wagers through a wire communication. The DOJ has recently determined that the law only applies to sports betting, and includes Internet wagers and transactions. This is where the controversy comes in. Many argue that the law should not include online gambling, as the Internet was not even a concept in 1961, hence the lawmakers could not have intended for it to apply to online gambling.
Despite this argument, the law remains in tact without any type of modifications being successfully pushed. This law only applies to US based gambling, and does not prohibit residents of Pennsylvania from participating in online sports betting at licensed and regulated gambling destinations that are located outside of the USA. It does effectively ban US based online sports betting however.
Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 – PASPA
PASPA was passed in 1992, and effectively outlaws sports betting everywhere in the United States with the exception of Nevada, Oregon, Montana and Delaware. In 1992 when it was passed, there was a one year grace period extension to allow qualified states to add legal sports betting to their existing gambling industries.
Lawmakers were fairly confident that the state of NJ would want to take advantage of this exception due to their thriving state based gambling industry. Oddly enough, NJ passed on this opportunity and to this day is unable to offer state licensed bookmaking services to its residents. This is the law responsible for minimal US based sports gambling options being available in the United States.
Like the Federal Wire Act, this law only applies to US based sportsbook operations, and has no bearing on licensed offshore gambling destinations that offer their services to PA residents.
Summary of the Legal Status of Pennsylvania Bookmaking
As you can see from the applicability of these two federal laws, state based sports betting is not an option for Pennsylvania sports fans. Thankfully this does not eliminate all the options available in PA. None of these laws prohibit US or Pennsylvania players from engaging in sports gambling at an offshore gambling site that is licensed, certified and regulated.
Keeping your destination legal is the key to ensuring you are not breaking any state or federal laws by participating in this type of responsible sports betting entertainment.