Another sports betting legalisation bill planned in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania House of Representatives lawmaker Robert Matzie has signalled his intention to introduce a bill seeking the House’s approval in principle for intrastate legalised sports betting, but with an interesting proviso…it is a “be prepared” effort dependent on New Jersey winning its Supreme Court appeal against earlier and bitterly contested judicial decisions supporting the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (see previous  reports).

The state House already has a bill before it in the form of HB4060 authored by Representative Robert Kosowski, which calls for support for legalised intrastate sports betting subject to a positive vote in a residents’ referendum.

Kosowski has filed the content in other attempts previously, but it has not made any headway in the past.

Our readers will recall that earlier this month optimism that the New Jersey case would be heard by the SCOTUS this year soared when the judges asked the Acting Solicitor General to prepare a brief outlining the federal government’s perspective on the issue.

Latest numbers indicate that the state of New Jersey has spent upwards of $7 million in fighting the case for legalised intrastate sports betting through a series of lower and appeal courts over the past several years, a process watched closely by other US states and the American Gaming Association, which are hopeful that the PASPA can be overturned, opening the US sports betting market to more than just four states.

Related and similar