Pennsylvania Online Poker Bill Opens Doors to Regional Partnerships

Pennsylvania Online Poker Bill Opens Doors to Regional Partnerships, and Potentially $100 Million in Revenue

A Pennsylvanian online gambling bill looks to make the New England the next legal place in the US for citizens to enjoy digital casino games.

“Look, we need revenue. They're not going to find votes for (higher) taxes in an election year. So I would think gaming will be a component,” says State Representative John Payne, R-Dauphin County, who is seen as the bill’s strongest proponent. He also chairs the House Gaming Oversight Committee, and hopes that a portion of the bill will be accepted by the House by the month of July. Payne believes all gambling, including both potential online business and brick and mortar business, greatly benefits the Pennsylvania government. “I look at the gaming institution as big business, and Pennsylvania's the majority shareholder. We get 54 percent of the take on slot machines. The more money they make, the more money we make. It's in our interest as a commonwealth to make sure those casinos do well,” he said.

Indeed, the economics of legal online gambling in Pennsylvania are sound: after all, New England contains two of the three states in which online gambling is legal: Delaware and New Jersey. There are two main reasons for which the state will benefit from such a bill. Firstly, some lawmakers and businessmen think that, because of its neighbors, Pennsylvania will fail to be competitive in the region’s gambling market, and as such will lose customers. Secondly, Pennsylvania has the option of joining a partnership with Delaware and New Jersey, and will open up a huge opportunity for state revenue, which could total over $100 million.

“If Pennsylvania comes online, that's a huge market, much bigger than Jersey. It doubles the player pool, which is awesome,” said Chris Capra, the marketing director for 888poker and 888casino in the United States region. He said passage of the bill would be “massively important,” especially for a shared gaming platform. “There's a really strong case of opening this up with a shared player pool, which is tremendously good for poker and even better for casinos, because you can share jackpots, and the (slot machine) progressives move up.”

As for the details of the bill: licensing fees would amount to $5 million dollars (a significant reduction from the original proposed amount of $16.7 million), and Pennsylvania would tax 28% of online gaming total intakes (down from the original tax of 43%). The bill also includes more than poker. The text of the bill states that any “internet game” would be defined as “[a] table game, slot machine or any other game approved by regulation of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to be suitable for use for Internet gaming activities….”

The bill also includes typical age restrictions, consumer protections, and economically competitive reasoning. It would “ inhibit underage wagering and otherwise protect vulnerable individuals, ensure that the games offered through the Internet are fair and safe, stop sending much-needed jobs, tax and other revenue offshore to illegal operators, provide a significant source of taxable.”