Published On: Thu, Jun 21st, 2018

Pennsylvania Not Enthusiastic About Online Gambling

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No operators so far have applied for a license

In October 2017, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed off on a major gambling expansion proposal that also covered the legalization of online gambling. It’s been almost a year since then, and residents still do not have access to Internet gambling sites.

 

According to a spokesperson from the Pennsylvania Gambling Control Board (PGCB), there have been no applications received for interactive gaming. The state currently wants applicants to cough up around $10 million per application. This fee will permit applicants to operate table games and Internet slots.

 

Apart from the high application fee, operators will also be required to pay up around 14% of their revenue as tax for poker and table games. For interactive slots, the tax rate stands at 52%.

 

The gambling expansion bill was passed as a solution that would close the state budget funding gap. Estimates indicated that the bill would rake in around $200 million in annual revenues from 12 of the state’s satellite casinos, along with truck stop slots, airport slots, daily fantasy sports, sports betting, and online gambling.

 

Sports betting, a distant dream?

 

State lawmakers grouped in table games, slots, and poker together under the $10 million fee licensing category, hoping that casinos would respond favorably. Casinos would be able to get their hands on iGambling applications after the initial 90-day application period. However, they would have to cough up $4 million for each iGambling application.

 

The gambling expansion bill also called for the regulation of sports betting, provided the federal laws against it were amended. Interestingly enough, the Supreme Court overturned this law only last month. The PASPA (Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act) is no longer a roadblock.

 

The PGCB started taking in applications soon after that.

 

However, the specifics regarding the regulation of sports betting are still being discussed. Now, casino operators, although accepting of the $10 million licensing fee, are not too happy about the 34% tax on net revenue for sports gambling.

 

In comparison, NJ, which was behind the elimination of the PASPA, charges a mere 8.5% on in-person sports betting and 13% on online sports betting. Nevada charges around 6.75.

 

Pennsylvania’s sports betting proposal is being called ridiculous. Brett Smile, the founder of Sports Handle, stated that it would be shocking if casino operators were not working towards lowering the proposed tax rate.

 

As of now, none of the 12 casinos in Pennsylvania have submitted licensing applications for online gambling operations.

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