How Pennsylvania licenses the companies behind its gaming floor and apps
Pennsylvania regulates gaming vendors under the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act, Act 1 of 2004 (Title 4 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes), as expanded by Act 42 of 2017. Act 1 created slot casinos and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB); a 2010 amendment added table games; Act 42 added interactive gaming (online casino), sports wagering, video gaming terminals at qualified truck stops, fantasy contests and online lottery. Each of those expansions brought its own vendor license, so a single company that sells to a Pennsylvania casino, an online operator and a truck-stop terminal operator can appear on several separate PGCB lists.
Manufacturer versus supplier: a deliberate split
Unlike states that fold design and distribution into one vendor license, Pennsylvania separates the company that builds the product from the company that sells, leases or services it. A manufacturer designs, assembles or programs slot machines, table game devices, interactive gaming devices or sports wagering systems. A supplier buys from licensed manufacturers and sells, leases, distributes or services that equipment to slot facilities or certificate holders. The Board's notes make the dependency explicit: a slot facility or supplier may only buy gaming equipment from manufacturers in an eligible status, and a VGT terminal operator may only use eligible VGT suppliers.
In practice the manufacturer lists are long and the supplier lists are short. As of the Board's 09/08/2026 lists, the slot and table game supplier list names only a handful of firms (JCM Global among them), the iGaming supplier list showed no entries, the sports wagering supplier list names one, and the VGT supplier list names two, while the iGaming manufacturer list runs to roughly 70 entries. That is because most large manufacturers sell direct, and online content studios license their games straight to platform operators.
The license categories the Board publishes
| Market | Manufacturer list | Supplier list | Added by |
|---|---|---|---|
| Slot machines | Yes | Yes | Act 1 of 2004 |
| Table games | Yes | Yes | 2010 amendment |
| Interactive gaming (iGaming) | Yes | Yes | Act 42 of 2017 |
| Sports wagering | Yes | Yes | Act 42 of 2017 |
| Video gaming terminals | Yes | Yes | Act 42 of 2017 |
The Board also publishes separate eligibility lists for manufacturer designees, gaming-related gaming service providers, VGT terminal operators and procurement entities, and junket operators. Those are different license types and are not manufacturer or supplier licenses.
Fees and the five-year term
The PGCB fee schedule sets a manufacturer license at $170,000 for the initial five-year term and $150,000 on renewal, and a supplier license at $85,000 initial and $75,000 on renewal, plus a $5,000 applicant investigation deposit and $2,500 deposits for each affiliated entity and principal. The five-year cycle shows in the lists: each entry carries a start and end date roughly five years apart, and a company whose term is ending typically shows a second line reading Renewal App Pending.
Reading the status column
- Approved for Licensure: an initial license granted by the Board, with its term.
- License Renewed: a renewed five-year term.
- Renewal App Pending: the renewal is under review; the company remains eligible to sell.
- Interim Authorization Approved: permission to operate while the full application is investigated (seen mainly on the iGaming list).
- Pending: an application has been filed but the company is not yet in an eligible status.
- License Hold: an annotation the Board adds to specific entries; check the current list before relying on such a vendor.
Why the iGaming list is the one to watch
Pennsylvania is one of the largest regulated online casino markets in the United States. The PGCB reported calendar-2025 iGaming revenue of $2,775,554,529, up 27.22% from 2024, within total gaming revenue of $6.80 billion. Online content studios from Europe and elsewhere, such as Hacksaw Gaming, Play'n GO, Relax Gaming, Wazdan and Red Rake Digital, have set up Pennsylvania-specific or U.S. entities to hold an iGaming manufacturer license, which is why many names on the list end in PA LLC or USA.
VGTs and the skill game dispute
Licensed VGTs are limited to qualified truck stop establishments and are supplied only through PGCB-licensed VGT manufacturers and suppliers. For years, unlicensed skill game machines in bars and convenience stores operated outside that system. On June 15, 2026 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that skill games are slot machines under the Gaming Act as amended in 2017, and stayed enforcement for 120 days to give the General Assembly time to act. Skill game machines were never approved through these manufacturer and supplier lists; whether the legislature creates a new license class for them would change the vendor landscape.
Who uses these lists
Casino purchasing and compliance teams confirm that a vendor is in an eligible status before buying. iGaming operators and aggregators check which studios can legally supply content in the state. Component makers, payment providers and test labs use the lists to find companies that already passed Pennsylvania's suitability investigation, and investors use them to track which international studios have entered the market. The Board's lists show company names, categories, status and dates only; contact and corporate details come from each company's own filings and websites.