Online gaming lobbyists such as the Pokers Players Alliance (PPA) have campaigned for years to get online gambling approved in Pennsylvania. Their efforts finally paid off last week when Pennsylvania decided to legalize iGaming bill H 271 after legislators were able to reach a mutual agreement after a two hour debate. The bill will now head to Gov. Tom Wolf who needs to sign it within a 10 day period else it becomes a law by default.

Pennsylvania has now approved online poker and online casinos games along with daily fantasy sports (DFS), online slot machines and sports-betting when it receives federal approval. PPA executive director John Pappas was very happy to hear the news and stated that Pennsylvania had made the right decision as the online gambling industry is expected to generate significant amount of revenue for the government in the form of gaming taxes.

Gaming Tax Rates

Pennsylvania has imposed gaming tax laws that are very similar to those in New Jersey with a few exceptions. The H 271 bill has a 16 percent tax on online poker and online casinos games, a 15 percent tax on the DFS market and a 36 percent tax on its sports betting market. The highest gaming tax will be imposed on online slots as legislators have decided that 54 percent tax is appropriate.

Pappas does not agree with the high gaming taxes levied on online slots and sports betting and warns that if Pennsylvania is to maximize its gaming market and allow the industry to flourish, it has to reduce these two gaming taxes. The cause for concern is that online gaming operators will not be very keen to enter the sports betting and online slot machine markets due to the high taxes as it will eat into their profits and not give them a lot of opportunity to grow and expand in Pennsylvania.

Online Gaming Licenses

Pennsylvaniahas decided to introduce three types of online gaming licenses. The first is for peer-to-peer games which will cover online poker, the second is for house banked games and the third is for online slots. Once the licenses become available, gaming operators outside of Pennsylvania will have to wait for a 120 days to apply while existing operators in the state must apply within a 90 day period for them to be able to purchase all three licenses at a discounted $10 million. Should they choose to purchase single licenses; they will have to shell out $4 million for each.

The online gaming bill also makes provision for online lottery sales to be allowed and tablet gaming in authorized areas such as airports. Approval has also been granted for ten satellite casinos and video gaming terminals to be installed at truck stops. Category 3 casinos will also have more freedom under the new gaming bill as they now have permission to introduce more slots and drop membership fees in favour of a one-time fee.

Tags: daily fantasy sports, DFS, Online Casinos, online gambling legislation, Online Poker, online poker legislation, Pennsylvania, sports-betting

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 28th, 2017 at 7:47 pm and is filed under Poker Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.

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