Pennsylvania considering online gaming bill
The state of Pennsylvania, more specially Legislator Tina Davis, began the process of creating a bill to legalize online gambling within Pennsylvania. It is believed that licensing fees alone could generate as much as $16.4 million in annual revenue for the state and the proposed tax rate is 45%. This is seen as an ridiculous amount and if approved will only see most operators not interested in operating within the state and the continued underground gambling through offshore betting sites.
After some rethinking of the proposed bill that amount has been brought down to $10.2 million and a 20% tax rate, which is in line with other states that have enacted similar laws recently. The bill is set to be proposed next week and is being sought to protect the growing gambling industry that currently is done within the state.
It is expected that land based casino operators, who only are able to be licenses for slot game and table games in the state, will oppose this bill aggressively s it will have a direct result on their business. The state is republican controlled currently and they oppose online gambling in any form. It is doubtful that this bill will see the light of day based on the many oppositions it will face.