Pennsylvania governor signs online gambling bill into state law

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has wasted little time in signing the gambling expansion bill approved by the state House and Senate last week, which includes the legalisation of online poker and casino gambling and daily fantasy sports.

The governor’s signature marks an end to the four-month debate over what should be included in the budget funding bill, which has bounced back and forth between House and Senate as lawmakers struggled to find some sort of agreement.

In the end they produced legislation that permits intrastate online casino and poker products, daily fantasy sports, online lottery sales, 10 new satellite casinos and video gaming terminals (VGT) at truck stops (see previous reports).

State regulators now have 60 days to put together the requisite regulations and infrastructure to support the 12 licenses available for each vertical. Existing state land casino licensees have first crack at the licenses and have 120 days to apply, after which the offer will be open to wider applicants.

The main criticism regarding the new law (other than the anticipated whingeing from anti-gambling expansion entities) appears to be the sky-high tax rate imposed on online slots which at 54 percent matches that currently charged on land slots. This is not even remotely competitive against neighbouring New Jersey rates and will make the achievement of profit difficult to say the least.

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