Can Next Year Be Better For Pennsylvania Online Gambling

Online gambling in the state of Pennsylvania stumbled, tripped and fell during 2016 as while the House of Representatives kept doing their bit to push things through, the Senate was not so forthcoming. Toward the end of last year there were changes on an almost daily basis and things eventually got sidelined as basically time ran out, however there's hope that 2017 brings a little more forward motion from what is seen by many observers as the only state of the union that could legalize and regulate online gaming in 2017.

It's a complex situation in the state and last year it simply got more complex as the months past by, with the House of Representatives passing the gaming reform bill and almost begged the Senate to approve, and a huge 11 out of the 12 Pennsylvania's land based casinos backed the bill, at least to some extent, however all calls for action were ignored. The Senate added 20 pages worth of tax language to the bill and one major issue was that casinos must pay $10 Million regardless of revenue as part of that deal, which in all honesty was never going to be appealing!

So what does 2017 have in store for online casino gambling in Pennsylvania? After two bills passing through the House you'd hope that things would progress somewhat in early 2017 however the tax issue is a big one, although it's said that regulating online gaming is a priority this time around. Senator Jay Costa will lead the charge in the new year and is ready to introduce a bill that aims to tackle many of the issues head on, amending the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act, an amendment that not only includes the regulation of state licensed online casinos but also of daily fantasy sports too.

It's argued that revenue from regulated Pennsylvania online gaming would generate around the $100 Million per year mark, something that the state could very well do with, however from what we saw in 2016 we're not taking anything for granted as yet.