Crunch time for Pennsylvania online gambling

Online gambling legalisation observers are again focussing on Pennsylvania ahead of the state legislature’s return to business for just three days on September 26.

Our readers will recall that the much-amended House Bill 2150 has already been approved by the state’s House of Representatives and even included in next year’s budgeting calculations…but there are fears that opposition in the Senate could side-line the measure.

If that happens, the last chance saloon will be a six-day window in October, and when that expires it’s the end of the road for the proposal, at least for this year.

That means a new year with new lawmakers and possibly new chairmen of gaming oversight committees in the House and Senate and the possibility of having to start out all over again.

The bill contains several different types of gambling in addition to online legalisation, with its omnibus nature potentially complicating its continued passage through the Senate. The installation of slot machines at OTBs (off track betting venues) is one of the key issues.

Lawmakers supporting legalisation claim that opposition to the regulation and licensing of daily fantasy sports and e-gaming proposed in HB2150 is minimal and that these are issues that should be prioritised.

One of the attractions of e-gaming legalisation in this election year is that it could bring an additional $100 million in (already budgeted) fees and taxes to state coffers (see previous reports).

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