Pennsylvania Online Poker Still On Table Despite Postponement Of Wednesday VoteOnline Casino Games, DFS Industry Now Linked In Keystone State |
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A vote Wednesday on an online gaming bill in Pennsylvania was postponed but it doesn’t mean the proposal is off the table, a Keystone State lawmaker told Card Player.
Rep. John Payne, chair of the state’s House Gaming Oversight Committee and author of the online gaming bill, said that state budget talks are making progress and that regulated online gaming is still very much alive, even as 2015 winds down. Payne’s bill, HB 649, could be the vehicle to authorize the online casino games, but there’s a similar proposal (SB 900) in the Senate from Sen. Kim Ward.
Both proposals have already had their own public hearing this year.
“It doesn’t matter whose name is on the bill,” Payne said of the potential final version. He just wants to get a gaming expansion package passed, which would allow the Keystone State to realize additional revenue without raising taxes on Pennsylvanians themselves.
Payne said an omnibus bill that could also include online lottery sales, slots at airports and regulated daily fantasy sports betting would likely be how regulated online casino gaming gets approved.
In other words, online poker won’t be legalized via a stand-alone measure.
According to Payne, the DFS industry doesn’t want to be shut out of Pennsylvania like it was just recently in Nevada, so there are ongoing talks on how to make that possible. There is a bill on the table in the Keystone State that would limit DFS sites in Pennsylvania to those sponsored by the state’s 12 brick-and-mortar casinos, which would ban the leading DFS sites DraftKings and FanDuel. That bill was also scheduled to have a vote on Wednesday, but it was postponed. Payne said that the DFS issue was why the entire committee meeting was postponed.
Payne said that 11 out of the 12 casinos in the state are either in support or neutral to online casino games, and that the games have been part of the state’s plan for additional revenue since day one of the ongoing budget impasse, now past the 110-day mark.
Pennsylvania determined that regulated online gaming would eventually be a $300 million market. There isn’t yet a consensus on how high the tax rate should be on that revenue.
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