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NetEnt Obtains Pennsylvania's Interactive Gaming Manufacturer Conditional License
March 18, 2019 Andrej Vidovic
NetEnt Americas LLC, subsidiary of online gaming content specialist, NetEnt, has brought about a successful closure of yet another licensing negotiation on the North American continent.
The brand was granted an Interactive Gaming Manufacturer Conditional License by Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB), meaning that…
…the company finally capitalizes on the state’s legislature from October 2017 that recognizes online casino gambling as a legal activity. The license will be used to deliver their multi-award-winning titles to licensed operators in regulated Pennsylvanian market.
A Brief Statement of Anticipation
Managing Director of NetEnt Americas LLC, Erik Nyman, said of the occasion:
“We are very pleased to be in the first round of approved vendors to conduct online gaming in Pennsylvania. This fits well with our strategy to be live with our products at the first day of market opening.”
The positive announcement comes almost exactly one month after the brand’s first major breakthrough in the US…
…which was the acquisition of a permanent online gaming license by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, which ended the lengthy period of transactional waiver which the supplier used since NetEnt’s entry to the New Jersey market in 2015.
The application for this Casino Service Industry Enterprise license was submitted at the very same time and was under the review since – meanwhile, NetEnt’s waiver enabled them to distribute their games to NJ operators.
DoJ’s Wire Act Escapades Putting All on Hold
The reason behind the shortness of Nyman’s comment may be that the acquisition comes with a bittersweet taste for the brand…
…because it was unfortunately aligned with the unexpected news of Pennsylvania’s Gaming Control Board officially postponing the roll out of the much anticipated online gambling market due to uncertainties introduced by the Department of Justice and their reenactment of 1961’s Wire Act.
The uneasy decision was confirmed last week by the regulator’s Executive Director, Kevin O’Toole, who said he had earlier prepared the letter to be sent to all PA licensees in case it came to this.
And it did. O’Toole’s rejected summary of the entire ordeal was:
“There had been an expectation that those iGaming operators who were partnering with our casinos in Pennsylvania, if they already had the infrastructure in another jurisdiction that they could leverage that to reduce the cost of implementing iGaming.”
A Jump Over Hurdles
While they wait for their PA business to take off…
…Stockholm-based supplier breaks barriers of video slot standards, with one recent release standing out in particular.
Scudamore’s Super Stakes is horse racing-themed slot game and the group’s first sports-branded product that features eight-time champion jockey, Peter Scudamore, who provided the game’s commentary.
Source:
“NetEnt granted license in Pennsylvania”, netent.com, March 14, 2019.
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That Wire Act thing is so unnerving. A complete joke. Now everyone is losing precious time (and money) because of someone’s inexplicable ideas.