Pennsylvania Senate Delays Online Poker VoteHouse Again Approves I-Gaming, Proposal Sits With Senate |
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The Pennsylvania House again has urged the Senate to legalize online gambling.
House lawmakers on Thursday approved House Bill No. 1887, which aims to fix a local share tax issue that if left unresolved would leave some Pennsylvania communities with a casino without as much as $10 million in slot machine tax revenue.
A state Supreme Court ruling this fall struck down the tax because it affected the state’s 12 casinos disproportionately. Basically, smaller casinos had an issue with the tax code.
The tax situation is considered urgent, so Keystone State lawmakers were working long hours this week on the proposal as this year’s regular session came to a close. Pennsylvania’s House, which approved online gaming in June in a stand-alone gaming expansion bill, amended the tax fix measure to include online casinos.
The state estimates that online gambling would generate $300 million in revenue for the casino industry. That would add about 10 percent to the state’s existing gambling market.
A separate state budget plan approved earlier this year included $100 million from online gaming, so momentum has been building all year for Pennsylvania to become just the fourth state in the country with gambling on the web.
The House voted 108-71 in favor of HB 1887 with the online gaming provision. Daily fantasy sports regulation was also included. According to reports, the Senate will be on recess until mid-November before potentially voting on the bill.
The legislation also includes allowing limited gambling at Pennsylvania’s international airports.
The Morning Call reported that it’s unclear if the Senate will approve the legislation, even though it needs to settle the tax issue as soon as possible. The Senate could just let the bill die.
“If the bill does not become law or faces another lawsuit, municipal officials say they may have to raise taxes, cut services or borrow money to balance their budgets in 2017,” the report said.
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