A Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court judge has handed the state’s casino owners a defeat in their effort to shut down slot-like iLottery games, denying a motion for an injunction that would block the games from being implemented.
Casino owners filed suite after the Pennsylvania Lottery began offering online games that are very similar to the casino-style slot games approved for the state’s online gaming program, which officially launched last week with a three-day test of online gaming portals tied to Greenwood Gaming’s Parx Casino and Penn National Gaming’s Hollywood Casino.
Pennsylvania’s 2017 gaming expansion law created the online gaming program. Operators paid $10 million for online gaming licenses that require 54 percent of revenue from online slot games to go to the state. The law also authorized the Pennsylvania Lottery to begin online ticket sales and online games. The latter, however, are very similar to the games in the casinos’ online portals. Under the law, slot games are exclusive to land-based casino operators.
The lawsuit claims the iLottery games are unfair competition, in that they provide an experience similar to casino games, without the operating cost and taxes.
Casinos are expected to appeal the decision favoring the lottery.
