This week West Virginia became the seventh state to introduce legislation seeking to legalize and regulate online gambling in 2017.

This is West Virginia’s first online gaming bill. The legislation is surprising, but not wholly unexpected. West Virginia was selected as one of Online Poker Report’s “dark horse” states to pass an online gambling bill this year.

The bill, H 3067, sponsored by Delegate Shawn Fluharty, would “authorize Internet gambling through managed and licensed through existing authorized gaming facilities in West Virginia.”

Per the bill:

“Developments in technology and recent legal decisions have created an opportunity to legalize interactive poker as a means to further enhance and complement the benefits delivered by casino gaming and licensed facilities to or for the benefit of the communities in which they operate;”

H 3067 assigns licensing and regulation duties to the West Virginia Lottery Commission.

More at Online Poker Report