Pennsylvania receives a second bill for online gaming

The US state of Pennsylvania has received a new bill. State Representative Nick Miccarelli has introduced another bill for online gaming, it is just that this time the bill only covers online poker. Last week, another online gaming bill was introduced in the US state by the Pennsylvania House Committee on Gaming, presided by Pennsylvania State Representative John D Payne. Last week, on Wednesday, State Representative John D Payne announced a new bill, House Bill 649, to legalize online gambling activities. The bill does not contain any Bad Actor clause.

However, the new bill introduced by Miccarelli, HB 695, is only going to focus on legalizing online poker in the state. HB 695 would issue licenses only to those operators that are already holding a previous license from the state with some limitations as HB 695 will not allow any online gambling operator that, previously, had purchased or acquired, directly or indirectly, in whole or in significant part, a third-party, or will use that third-party or a covered asset in connection with interactive gaming.

The licensing process will be compromise with this new bill as new operators might be left out. The process will incur in a fee of $5 million, and operations will have to declare 14% on taxes from gross gaming revenue. The new bill from State Representative Nick Miccarelli does include a bad actor clause, which might make it very difficult for Poker Stars to enter the state’s market. State Representative Nick Miccarelli has said: “Poker is unlike banking games in many respects that make it best for the introduction of interactive gaming. Poker operators are not participants in the games and are indifferent as to the outcome.”