About a month or so ago, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives shot down two amendments to HB 649, a bill which would legalize and regulate online poker in the Commonwealth, putting the launch of online gaming on hold. A re-vote at a later date was requested and now it looks like the bill’s sponsor, Rep. John Payne, believes that such a vote could come soon.
Payne told TribLive.com that he sees a vote coming before the new fiscal year starts on July 1st so that a state budget can get approved. The state Senate has already overwhelmingly passed an online poker bill by a 53 to 5 vote.
Famed poker Twitch streamer Jason Somerville spoke with TribLive.com, explaining that regulation is necessary to protect players. “The biggest scandals in online-poker history (are) operators that have closed and taken players’ money,” he said. “Players’ deposits and winnings should be kept in an escrow account so players have access no matter what happens to the operator.”
Payne’s bill is not just about online poker, though, but rather expanding gambling overall. Competition in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States has ramped up in recent years, with neighboring states New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut, and New York all fighting to keep gamblers from crossing state lines to visit out-of-state casinos (or, conversely, trying to attract players from across borders). New Jersey and Delaware have legalized online gambling, while New York came close to passing a bill over the weekend, but fell just short.
Payne wants to make Pennsylvania the gold standard for the gambling industry and feels that with the right regulations, it could be. The part of the bill that is arguably the stickiest is the subject of video gaming terminals (VGTs), which are essentially video slots, video poker, and the like. The two aforementioned amendments that have held up the bill both allow non-casinos to have a limited number of VGT’s, but they differed in how widespread VGT’s could be. A7619, supported by Payne, only allows for VGT’s in airports and some off-track betting venues. A7622, written by Rep. Marc Mustio, permits them in many more places, like taverns. Both amendments failed to pass mainly because a clerical error attributed both to Payne, causing confusion and incorrect voting.
Eleven of the state’s twelve casinos don’t want heavy VGT expansion, particularly in taverns, because they feel it will cannibalize their sales. After all, if anybody can just walk over to the neighborhood bar and play some video poker, why go to a casino? The casinos tend to be fine with internet gambling, but would rather not have internet gambling if they also have to accept VGT expansion.
Rep. William Kortz told PennLive.com that he sees VGTs as a way for small organizations and businesses to get enough of a revenue boost to stay open. “We’re talking about organizations that just want to get by. American Legions, volunteer fire companies, social clubs… Please people. I mean, let’s give them a little slice of the pie,” he said.
Rep. Payne tends to not be for extreme VGT expansion, having said that it, “….would in my mind do great fiscal harm to the existing casinos in Pennsylvania which ultimately then would affect the property tax fund, which would ultimately affect the local county’s local share.”
He is excited, though, for VGT/online gaming combinations at locations such as airports that shouldn’t really hurt casinos’ business.
“These machines, if they’re on a tablet, can be so simple,” Payne told TribLive.com. “You can do all the games right on the tablet. It’s a secure system.”
He added, “We have to get into the new technology if we’re going to be competitive with the surrounding states. As we talk about it, they’re now doing it.”