An Internet gaming bill is expected to be introduced imminently in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives by Rep. Tina Davis, a Bucks County Democrat.
Meanwhile, observers also expect to see a second bill in the Senate, as the Keystone State this year gives its first real legislative consideration to online gambling.
“I do think that Internet gaming will be a topic that Pennsylvania will discuss,” Kevin O’Toole, executive director of the state’s Gaming Control Board, told delegates at the Pennsylvania Gaming Congress Tuesday in Philadelphia.
“But it’s speculation as to whether the General Assembly as a whole will pass a piece of legislation,” O’Toole said.
Pennsylvania’s immediate neighbors in New Jersey and Delaware are two of the three states that have already legalized Internet gambling, although the pair have done so under divergent regulatory models.
While New Jersey reserves Internet licenses for Atlantic City casinos under regulation of the state’s gaming agencies, Delaware will move online with a single, lottery-controlled platform run in partnership with its three racinos.
Certain Pennsylvania lawmakers have already raised concern over the possible role of the state’s lottery in Internet gambling under a proposed private management contract with the UK’s Camelot, now on hold.
For their part, Pennsylvania’s casinos and racinos favor a New Jersey-style licensing regime, operators told conference delegates Tuesday.
“A New Jersey model makes sense to a large degree,” said Michael Bean, president and general manager of Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs, as it will be land-based casinos that bear the risk of cannibalization from Internet play.
“It’s our position that if [Internet gaming] is to occur in Pennsylvania, and I do believe there is a place for it, it should go to the existing operators,” Bean said.
The operation of interactive scratch-off tickets by the state lottery could be a “slippery slope” if games start to look and play like slots, said Jay Snowden, senior vice president of regional operations for Penn National Gaming.
“Inevitably, [Internet gaming] is going to happen … but who ends up with those licenses is critical,” Snowden said.
“The conversation with online gaming, we feel, has to begin and end with us as the licensees.”
O’Toole said it is not clear what regulatory model will be proposed by forthcoming legislation, “but I would hope the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board would be the agency vested with the responsibility to oversee Internet gaming.”
Legislative hearings are likely to be held this year, and “I think it’s a positive opportunity for Pennsylvania to look at Nevada and New Jersey to look at how they have dealt with various topics associated with Internet gaming,” O’Toole told conference delegates.
“Pennsylvanians, the legislators and the regulators, will have the opportunity to look at how those issues are being addressed in those two major jurisdictions, and take the best practices from their regulations.”
Pennsylvania swept past New Jersey last year to become America’s number two commercial gaming state behind Nevada, although New Jersey now hopes legalized Internet gaming will help it recover some of the lost ground.
Matthew Levinson, New Jersey Casino Control Commission chairman, told delegates he expects Internet gambling to be “huge for Atlantic City and very good for employment at brick-and-mortar casinos.”
Online regulations are still being finalized by New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement but are expected to be published in the near future, Levinson said.
Still, other panelists said they expect New Jersey’s online advantage to be short-lived.
Competition in the mid-Atlantic casino market is fierce, delegates said, and certain states in the region have already gone tit-for-tat over gambling expansion, notably table games.
New Jersey and Atlantic City should expect a financial windfall from Internet gaming “in the short run,” said Adam Steinberg, an independent consultant and former gaming analyst with Morgan Joseph.
“The long run is Pennsylvania is generating a lot of money from [gaming] taxes, as is New York, Delaware, and now Maryland.
“They’re not going to want to lose that revenue so they’re going to come right back and they’ll pass their own Internet gaming [bills].”
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