Why Can't I Bet Sports in PA From My iPad

Sports betting in Pennsylvania has launched in recent days, including mobile.  The problem: You can't access the sportsbook apps via your iPhone or iPad.  Offshore sportsbooks continue to service the state while in-state operators apps are currently compatible on Android.

From PhillyVoice.com:

Mobile sports betting has arrived in Pennsylvania, but online sports betting in PA still has a ways to go before it reaches its potential.

The big issue, right now, is that bettors can not legally place a bet from an iPhone or iPad. And when you consider that roughly half of all mobile users (and perhaps an even greater percentage of bettors) use iOS, this has significantly watered down the launch of mobile betting in Pennsylvania, even if things got off to a hot start when $573k worth of bets were placed at SugarHouse in three days after their launch at the end of May.

There is some speculation that sports betting providers will not even try to comply with iPhones new policy, which goes into full effect September 4 (new apps, like those in PA, must adhere immediately).

The new guidelines state the following:

“HTML5 games distributed in apps may not provide access to real money gaming, lotteries, or charitable donations, and may not support digital commerce. This functionality is only appropriate for code that’s embedded in the binary and can be reviewed by Apple. This guideline is now enforced for new apps. Existing apps must follow this guideline by September 3, 2019.”

“It’s going to hurt a lot of people,” said Stuart Godfree, managing director and co-founder of gambling apps and software developer mkodo, in an interview with OnlinePokerReport.com. “Rebuilding a game will take several months; just look at the size of the [games] portfolios that people have. It’s huge.”

- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com