The eastern U.S. could become a hotbed for iGaming if two more states follow through on moves to legalize the activity. Already legal in New Jersey and Delaware, Pennsylvania and New York are now considering legalization.
Pennsylvania officials have been holding public hearings on keeping its casino industry competitive including the possible legalization of online gambling, with the latest held at the Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Washington Pennsylvania.
The hearings are being held through the state’s House Gaming Oversight Committee and are being held at various venues around the state.
“This is a great opportunity for us to get out in the field. I’d rather get out and talk directly to the customer, instead of sitting in Harrisburg inside the white marble walls,” said State Representative John Payne, head of the committee.
Payne’s has introduced a bill to license online gambling through the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, The hearings focused on that bill as well as regulatory processing and marketing the state’s casino industry to other states.
Another gambling bill is reportedly being prepared for introduction as well in the state. The new bill, from state Senator Sean Wiley would cover a number of gaming initiatives including allowing existing casinos in the state to offer online poker.
Though the bill has not been introduced, Wiley said in a statement that he wants to include language to grandfather the state against any attempt to impose a federal ban on online gambling. There is currently a bill before the U.S. House of Representatives—backed by Las Vegas Sands owner Sheldon Adelson—to do just that, but the bill has not been gaining traction.
Wiley’s proposal would make online poker available “no sooner than Jan 1, 2017 with regulations, licensure effective no sooner than July 1, 2016.”
The bill would require a $500,000 online gaming license fee and a tax rate of 36 percent on revenues.
There are also two other online poker bills introduced to the state house and one bill seeking to ban online gambling in the state.
Speaking at the hearing were several Meadows executives including Bill Paulos of the Cannery Casino Resorts and owner of the Meadows and Sean Sullivan, general manager of the track. The track officials supported online gambling in the state.
Sullivan suggested that the state consider using upfront fees as an advanced payment towards taxes as well as a 10 percent revenue tax on online gambling. He also backed a full slate of online casino games rather than limiting online gaming to just porker.
Suggestions were also made at the hearings to have alcohol service at casinos 24 hours a day and also to reduce amount of harness racing days in the state to increase purses.
In New York, Senator John Bonacic has sponsored a bill that would legalize online poker. It would authorize “the New York State Gaming Commission to license certain entities to offer for play to the public certain variants of internet poker which require a significant degree of skill, specifically ‘Omaha hold ‘em’ and ‘Texas hold ‘em’.”
The bill would allow at least 10 operators of online poker gaming sites. Each license will cost $10 million and will expire in 10 years. License holders will also have to pay a tax of 15 percent of their gross gaming revenue to the state. Bonacic says the bill would protect consumers by standardizing rules and regulations and prevent illegal offshore sites from operating in the state.
Meanwhile, a new poll found that a majority of Pennsylvania residents supports legalizing online gambling.
A survey of 769 state voters by the Bravo Group media relations agency found that 66 percent of respondents believe the state should tax online gambling in order to fund “vital state programs,” while 58 percent felt that online gambling should be legalized regardless of how the tax revenue is distributed.
The poll was reportedly paid for by Caesars Entertainment and seemed designed to counter and earlier poll by Sheldon Adelson’s Coalition to Stop Internet Gambling, which had found that 73 percent of Pennsylvanians oppose internet gambling.
