Pennsylvania ‘closest to legal online gambling since New Jersey’
The progress of a Pennsylvania online gambling bill represents the closest a US state has come to legalising internet gaming since New Jersey, says a leading industry consultant.
HB 649 was passed by the Pennsylvania House Gaming Oversight Committee this week and Chris Grove of OnlinePokerReport.com says the development is the “closest we’ve been to seeing an online gambling bill become law since the first wave of states that included New Jersey”.
New Jersey legalised real-money online gaming in November 2013, becoming the third state to regulate some form of internet wagering after Delaware and Nevada.
This is the closest we’ve been to seeing an online gambling bill become law since the first wave of states that included New JerseyChris Grove
The next step for the Pennsylvania bill, which is sponsored by Gaming Oversight chairman John Payne and Democrat co-chair Nick Kotik, would be a vote on the House floor, followed by a vote in the state Senate.
It would then progress to the governor who could pass it into law.
However an alternative path for the bill could see it form part of Pennsylvania’s 2016 budget and be passed into law as part of a budget vote.
“The bill is one small piece in a much broader debate surrounding the budget in Pennsylvania, so its fate may ultimately come down to forces completely disconnected from the merits of the bill or support for the bill itself,” says Grove.
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