Pennsylvania poll shows support for online gambling

Pennlive reports the release of a new poll commissioned by lobbyists and public relations firm The Bravo Group which tests the water on Pennsylvania voter opinions on legalising state specific online gambling.

The results of this poll are vastly different from those of the auto-phone poll conducted by Republican Party-leaning Harper Polling earlier this month.  The poll was commissioned by the Sheldon Adelson-funded Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling (CSIG) .

Representative John Payne who chairs the House Gaming Oversight Committee and is the sponsor of  proposed legislation that would allow online gambling in the State of Pennsylvania said at the time:

“I don’t hold much credibility to the survey because of the way it was done. The entire poll is designed and orchestrated to give the answers they want.”

PennLive lists key points gleaned from the opinions of 769 registered voters from May 9-15 as:

66 percent of respondents would welcome legalised online gambling where taxes would be allocated to education and other state programmes.
80 percent of respondents want lawmakers to require online sites to use technology so that children and minors cannot gamble.
52 percent of those surveyed support requiring online gambling sites to use new technologies to help problem gamblers by limiting losses, deposits and time played.
By the same margin, voters say they want law enforcement to have jurisdiction over online gambling websites.
Nearly six in 10 (58 percent) of  respondents want Pennsylvania to pass a law that licenses and strictly regulates online gambling.
Six in 10 (61 percent) of respondents say they would be more likely to vote for a state legislator who in one bill votes to protect children from gambling online, generates millions of dollars for vital state programs, and gives law enforcement the power to stop fraud and cheating of offshore gambling websites.

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