Despite seemingly persistent rumors that Pennsylvania is on the verge of finally getting an online poker room, another month has passed without a hand of real money regulated online poker being dealt.

It’s been two years since Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed the bill into law that would allow for legalized online gaming to take place. And it’s been over three months since July 15, the official launch date of online gaming in the state. While citizens of the Keystone State have been able to bet on sports and play in various online casinos, poker is still nowhere to be seen in the market.

In fact, Pennsylvania online casinos arrived right away. Parx Casino and Hollywood Casino launched their online casino immediately with SugarHouse Casino rolling out their online site just two days later on July 17.

Over the past three months, there have been whispers that online poker was close to arriving. The latest had the industry anticipating online poker giant PokerStars to enter testing as early as the first week of October. But rather than that coming to fruition, the big news regarding PokerStars came in the form of their parent company The Stars Group being acquired by Flutter, Inc.

“We’re working with our partners and the authorities to finalize plans and bring our leading brands to PA’s players as soon as possible,” said a PokerStars representative when asked about a launch date. “There’s a lot to look forward to, so rest assured we’ll be in touch with more details as soon as they’re available.”

FOX Bet, the online sports betting arm of The Stars Group, has been available to Pennsylvania bettors since the first week of September.

“It is a bit surprising that no operator has yet launched online poker in Pennsylvania, especially considering that Parx and SugarHouse have launched iCasino and have leading retail poker rooms in the state,” said USBets Senior Reporter Brian Pempus. “Additionally, poker players have been clamoring for regulated Pennsylvania online poker for the better part of this decade.

“On the other hand, with the sluggish nature of the Pennsylvania live poker market, coupled with the years-long struggles for New Jersey’s online poker market, it’s hard to imagine ring-fenced online poker in Pennsylvania being super attractive for any casino at the moment. The hope is that Pennsylvania is currently working behind the scenes on an interactive gaming reciprocal agreement with New Jersey, as authorized by the 2017 law. In the meantime, I still expect online poker to launch in Pennsylvania while the agreement is explored.”

Time is running out if PokerStars, or any approved online operator for that matter, would like to deal a hand in October. If an online operator already has an online poker presence, as PokerStars does in New Jersey, that company needs to undergo a two-day stress test of their Pennsylvania operations. Would-be online poker operators that do not have an established platform will require an extra day.

As for when will that testing begin, the PA Gaming Control Board appears to be standing by.

“When an operator is ready to offer online poker, we will schedule testing,” said PA Gaming Control Board Communicators Director Doug Harbach.

Harbach will likely be one of the very first people to know when that testing will take place. When pressed for what he does know right now, he’s not giving any specifics but he does seem to be optimistic that online players will have some good news soon.

“We expect the first test to occur with at least one operator very soon,” Harbach said.