Poker News – On Thursday, the Pennsylvania State Senate passed SR 273, a resolution that calls for the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to examine the “current condition and future viability of gaming” in the Keystone State.
SR 273 directly discusses online gaming, directing the committee to “analyze the potential impact of online gaming on the gaming industry, including the impact online gaming may have on the Commonwealth’s tax revenues and employment at the Commonwealth’s casinos.”
Penn Live calls this resolution the beginning of a “gambling arms race between Mid-Atlantic states,” while Chris Grove of OnlinePokerReport.com believes that the Pennsylvania Senate may have “laid out a potential roadmap to regulated online gambling.”
Both Grove and Penn Live note that May 1, 2014 is the deadline for the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to report their findings, and June 30, 2014 is the deadline for the state budget.
The results of online gaming in New Jersey will likely influence Pennsylvania lawmakers – the first online gambling revenue reports in the Garden State will be released in January.
Gambling revenues at land-based casinos in Pennsylvania have begun to “level off and even decline at some gaming facilities,” according to SR 273. Thus, the committee will be urged to “sustain and maximize gaming revenue and the positive economic impact of gaming in this Commonwealth.”
