On-line sports betting has arrived in Pennsylvania.

SugarHouse Casino began testing of its on-line sports betting platform at about 4 p.m. Tuesday, Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board officials said today.

The first bet placed was, according to casino officials, a $1 bet placed at 4:01 p.m. on the Toronto Raptors to beat the Golden State Warriors and cover a one-point spread in Thursday’s opening game of the National Basketball Association’s championship series.

The so-called “soft-play” testing will run for the next three days, giving the casino and state regulators a chance to see whether - under live-betting circumstances - accounting, geo-location, age verification and other necessary systems are functioning properly.

Gaming Control Board spokesman Richard McGarvey said the test periods are expected to run until midnight each of the three days. If all goes according to plan, SugarHouse could move to full, round-the-clock operations by Friday.

There was no magic to SugarHouse, owned by Rush Street Gaming, breaking the tape for on-line sports betting. McGarvey noted it is simply a matter of their being “ready to go first.” He expects several of the other casinos to follow suit within the next couple of weeks.

SugarHouse’s on-line platform is operated by Rush Street Interactive, a sister company to the Philadelphia casino’s corporate parent.

Rush Street Interactive Chief Operating Officer Matt Stetz noted Tuesday afternoon that his firm had the advantage of already being in the market in neighboring New Jersey. Rush Street’s engineers could adapt that platform very quickly to meet Pennsylvania’s regulations, Stetz said.

This week’s test covers sports betting only; internet-based gambling on poker, slots and other casino-style games is expected to roll out separately, later this summer.

And there are already a few hiccups.

SugarHouse’s platform, for the moment, will not be accessible via iPhones or iPads, Stetz said, because of recent changes in Apple’s rules for granting App developers clearance to get their applications listed in its App Store.

That issue remains under negotiation between Apple and at least two of Pennsylvania’s casino operators.

Smart phones operating on the Android operating system, meanwhile, also run into a prohibition on gambling apps in its Google Play store, Stetz noted. But those users will be able to go directly to the PlaySugarHouse.com Website and download an Android-compatible app there.

There is no such work-around available for iPhone or iPad users yet.

Apple did not respond to a query from PennLive about the ongoing issues.

While that would appear to cut out a significant amount of online devices at the start, Stetz said SugarHouse believed it was worthwhile to launch now to secure the advantage of being the first casino to reach what is effectively a statewide market in Pennsylvania.

“For sure there is a slice of the market that we are missing out on in these first couple of weeks," Stetz said. "But we wanted to be first in the market,” he said, contending there is a pent-up demand for sports gamblers to be able to participate on-line.

SugarHouse is also betting that most of the affected iPhone users also have access to desktop and laptop computer that don’t have the same App issues.

Finally, Stetz said, moving now lets SugarHouse capture any bump from the NBA and Stanley Cup championship series.

Pennsylvania jumped into the sports betting pool last fall.

Nine of the state’s 12 commercial casinos have obtained licenses permitting sports betting to date, and six of those operators currently have on-site sports books in operation at eight total sites, including off-track betting parlors.

Pennsylvania becomes the third state, joining Nevada and New Jersey, to open its on-line sports betting market and it is likely to be busy.

In New Jersey, the total sports bet for April was $313.7 million, of which $254 million came from online bettors. Some observers believe physical casinos will continue to capture a relatively larger proportion of the total bet here, because of the greater spread of Pennsylvania casinos across the state.

But it still quite likely that on-line betting will eventually be the biggest part of the sports betting market.

The on-line sports books will offer the same menu of events to bet on as the in-casino sports betting lounges: all major professional sports, major college sports and auto racing.

But many customers see the immediacy of online betting as a preferable way to place “in-game” and prop bets on things like, what team will be leading a baseball game after the 5th inning, how many strikeouts will the starting pitchers throw, or will a certain player hit a home run tonight.

In all, Stetz said, there are 67 different potential bets listed for Tuesday night’s baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and the St. Louis Cardinals.

Any on-line bettors must be 21, physically in Pennsylvania, and have some kind of account with the casino.

The systems being opened up here will also have voluntary limits on the amounts of bets played that can be set by users who wish to do so.