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The Pennsylvania Senate approved a plan to expand casino-style gambling to truck stops, online portals, airports and 10 new casino sites, in an effort to break a four-month budget stalemate.
The bill, approved 31-19 on Wednesday night shortly before 8 pm EST and passed barely an hour after the Senate made a draft of it public. A House vote could still follow overnight.
Expanded gambling is forecast to result in upwards of $200 million in license fees and higher gambling losses.
Pennsylvania would become the first state to allow both casino and lottery games online.
ONLINE GAMBLING
Licensed commercial casinos, both in Pennsylvania and beyond, can apply to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to operate casino-style gambling on websites and mobile applications to people in Pennsylvania. A license fee of up to $10 million would be necessary to operate a website. Gross revenue from gambling on online slot machine-style games would be taxed at a 52 percent rate, while online table game revenue would be taxed at 14 percent. Just three states — New Jersey, Delaware and Nevada — allow online casino gambling.
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
