Lawmakers in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives on Tuesday rejected a plan for regulated online casino games, but they will likely reconsider the proposal at a later date.
The vote was 107-81 against legalizing online gaming, but the issue was coupled with allowing the expansion of video gaming terminals (VGTs) in the Keystone State. That plan was also defeated Tuesday. It’s unclear right now if the amendment to allow online casino games will be reconsidered individually.
Internet gaming could again be looked at as soon as tomorrow, Wednesday, May 25.
Reforms to Pennsylvania’s casino gambling market, worth roughly $3 billion annually, are being debated as a way to help fix a $50 billion pension “problem,” Rep. John Payne, sponsor of the Internet gaming proposal, said at the hearing.
After criticism focused on credit cards being used for funding online gaming accounts, Rep. George Dunbar said he “wanted to address some things that not everybody understands.”
“You can gamble online in Pennsylvania right now,” Rep. Dunbar said. “Maybe not in this building because of firewalls, but I guarantee you, I can walk out of this building and play poker tonight at the Radisson Hotel. I can use a credit card to do it.”
“What we are providing in this bill is consumer protection,” he added.
Rep. Payne chimed in: “I have to thank [Dunbar]; he has more knowledge of gaming than I do. When he tells you he can walk out tonight and go to his hotel and gamble online, and use his credit card to play, he is telling you the truth. My whole intent when introducing the I-gaming bill was to bring protections to my children, my grandchildren, the compulsive gamers. Make no mistake, you can gamble online right now without this bill using a credit card.”
“If you are going to vote ‘no’, please don’t use the crutch that it’s because you want to protect people. The protections are in this amendment…We are, like it or not, the majority shareholder in the casino industry [in Pennsylvania] because we get 54 percent of the [revenue]. In the private sector that would mean we are the majority shareholder. It behooves us to make sure our casinos do well because we get more money.”
“I didn’t do this because I was pro anything but business,” Payne stressed.
Payne said that he has held a whopping 47 meetings and hearings for online gaming over the past year and a half. “Nobody on this floor can say they want to wait until they have more information. We’ve had enough hearings, and I’m asking for a ‘yes’ vote.”
He didn’t get the votes, but the fight is far from over.
