Pennsylvania Lottery Xpress Sports Games: Launched
While much of the focus on Pennsylvania lately has been on rapid developments in online gambling and sports betting, the state lottery had a major new product release of its own this week. On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Lottery rolled out Xpress Sports across the state.
Xpress Sports is a type of virtual sports betting game that allows customers to bet on the outcome of virtual horseand motor races with outcomes delivered every five minutes. Players can choose from multiple bets for each race, watch an action-packed replay of the virtual contest, and receive immediate payouts on winning wagers.
Players can test their luck at any authorized PA Lottery retailer today while 1,500 locations have actually installed monitors dedicated to showing Xpress Sports games so far. According a PA Lottery press release, monitors at additional locations are on the way.
Lottery Executive Director Drew Svitko said this about the launch of Xpress Sports:
“Following Keno’s very strong start, we expect that our Xpress Sports games will also be a big hit with our players. These games are part of our continuing mission to modernize our business and generate new funds to benefit older Pennsylvanians.”
Xpress Car Racing Explained
Xpress Car Racing lets you bet on the outcome of a 12-car race around two laps of the Pennsylvania Lottery Speedway. Grab your slip, make your picks and then watch as the virtual cars take off down the track. Payouts range from as little as 2:1 to 250:1 and you can bet anywhere from $1 to $20 on the outcome of every race. A new race is held every five minutes.
This video from the PA Lottery explains how to play and offers a glimpse of what Xpress Car Racing looks like in action:
Xpress Car racing a straightforward games, with several betting options to choose from and payouts that remain the same across every race. As you would expect, the more specific your wager, the more it pays.
This chart shows the types of bets you can place, the payouts for every bet and the odds of winning:
| Type of Bet | Payout (on a $1 wager) | Odds of Winning |
| 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in exact order | $250 | 1 in 1,320 |
| 1st, 2nd and 3rd place in any order | $40 | 1 in 264 |
| 1st and 2nd place in exact order | $20 | 1 in 146.67 |
| 1st and 2nd place in any order | $5 | 1 in 146.67 |
| 1st place car | $2 | 1 in 13.33 |
Pennsylvania Lottery Expanding, Casinos Not Thrilled
The Pennsylvania Lottery has been able to expand its offerings significantly since a piece of gaming legislation was signed into law by Governor Tom Wolf last year. That bill authorized local casinos to offer sports betting and online gambling as well as permitting the lottery to take its games online.
PA iLottery launched in June of this year and now offers a selection of instant win games that offer instant payouts to PA residents 18 and older. Over time, PA iLottery is expected to add additional game types such as online keno and access to real-world drawings via tickets purchased online.
Governor Wolf also authorized the lottery to expand into virtual sports betting and keno last year. Real-world keno launched in May, and now this week marks the beginning of virtual sports betting in the form of Xpress Sports.
These new games are expected to raise large amounts of money for state coffers over coming months and years. Penn Live reported on Wednesday that Xpress Sports is expected to generate $55 million in the 2018-2019 fiscal year and that Keno has already raised nearly $13 million since launching in May.
PA iLottery has also been a hit so far. From its launch on June 4th through June 30th, PA iLottery signed up roughly 45,000 new customers and generated $21.6 million in sales with $18.7 million in prizes awarded.
Although Pennsylvania’s casinos also received concessions to launch new products including online casino games and sports betting, they are not happy with similar concessions granted to the Pennsylvania Lottery.
Within days of PA iLottery’s launch, Pennsylvania’s casinos complained that the new instant win games too closely resemble online slots, which are the purview of licensed casinos only. What’s more, PA iLottery games may be marketed to players as young as 18 while slots are restricted to customers age 21 or older.
Now, the Pennsylvania Gaming Coalition has added Xpress Sports to its list of complaints. Coalition spokesman David La Torre expressed his group’s opposition to the lottery’s virtual sports betting games this week as follows:
“The Pennsylvania Lottery’s new game combines elements of online casino games, sports betting and slot machines — areas that are legislatively restricted to the commonwealth’s casino operators. We will continue to oppose their illegal attempts to cannibalize the state’s casino industry.”
The Pennsylvania Gaming Coalition has already threatened legal action against the PA Lottery regarding the introduction of instant win games. Now with sports betting also raising the ire of the coalition, a legal battle may be brewing.
Mike Murphy is the founder of BettingUSA.com and has over 10 years of experience in the legal gambling industry. A regular attendee of industry trade shows and conferences, Mike is a strong proponent in the idea of a well regulated online betting industry.
