Pennsylvania sports betting in 2026: what Sixers fans can use

Sports betting is legal in Pennsylvania, online and in person, and has been since 2019. A Sixers fan anywhere in the state can open any of the 11 licensed sportsbook apps, and the three federally regulated prediction markets this site prices, Novig, Kalshi and Polymarket US, are available statewide as well. Few states give a fan the full comparison. Here is what is open, who oversees it, and what could change this season.

Sportsbooks: 11 apps, one regulator

Act 42 of 2017 legalized sports wagering in Pennsylvania and put it under the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Casino sportsbooks opened in late 2018 and the first online apps went live in 2019. The board's current list of authorized online sports wagering operators has 11 brands: bet365, BetMGM, betPARX, BetRivers, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics, Mohegan PA, PlaySugarHouse and theScore Bet, the app formerly called ESPN BET.

The minimum age is 21. Unlike some states' limits on college teams, nothing in Pennsylvania law keeps the Sixers off a Pennsylvania book, so every Sixers game is on every licensed app.

The market is large and still growing in revenue terms. The board reported more than $798 million in sports wagers for September 2026, down about 6% from a year earlier, while the books' taxable revenue rose about 50% to $44.7 million, TheLines reported on Oct. 20.

Seven of those apps are on the board: DraftKings, FanDuel, BetMGM, theScore Bet, bet365, BetRivers and Fanatics. Caesars, betPARX, PlaySugarHouse and Mohegan PA are licensed but not priced here.

Prediction markets: open, and not under the Gaming Control Board

Prediction markets are regulated by the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, not by the state, and three of them operate in Pennsylvania. Novig is a CFTC-designated exchange where you take a position at a price set by other traders; it is available in 47 states, and Pennsylvania is one of them. Kalshi and Polymarket US also serve the state. CBS Sports' Pennsylvania tracker, updated Wednesday, lists all three as available and reports no state enforcement action against them.

The state's regulators are not fans. Gaming Control Board executive director Kevin O'Toole wrote to members of Congress last fall that sports event contracts are a "backdoor" to sports betting outside state oversight. That letter was not an order, and unlike several other states, Pennsylvania has not moved to block the exchanges.

The bill to watch: HB 2711

In July, Rep. Tarik Khan, a Philadelphia Democrat, introduced House Bill 2711 with more than two dozen co-sponsors from both parties. It would regulate prediction markets rather than ban them: a 21+ age floor, a self-exclusion list, insider-trading and manipulation rules, and no contracts on high school sports. Enforcement would go to the Attorney General, not the Gaming Control Board. Sports event contracts would stay legal. The bill was sent to the House Consumer Protection, Technology and Utilities Committee and had not had a hearing as of the last reports we could find.

The court case that covers Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania is in the Third Circuit, the federal appeals court that ruled 2-1 in April that Kalshi was likely to win its argument that federal law preempts New Jersey's gambling laws for sports contracts. New Jersey asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Sept. 2 to take the case (Flaherty v. KalshiEX, No. 26-299). Other circuits have gone the other way, including the Sixth Circuit in Ohio's case in September, and that split is why a Supreme Court decision may eventually settle the question for every state. For now, the Third Circuit's ruling is the one that applies here.

What a Sixers fan can do tonight

For the game at Indiana and every game after it, a fan in Pennsylvania can compare a licensed sportsbook's price with Novig's, Kalshi's and Polymarket's on the same screen. The Pennsylvania page prices this week's games only at the venues open in the state. Novig's current offer for new traders is on the Novig page. The Sixers' full schedule is on the team page.

Novig and this site are 21+. If gambling stops being fun, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

We recheck this page monthly and after any ruling or vote. The Supreme Court petition and HB 2711 are the two things most likely to change it.