This week’s gambling news discusses the recent launch of internet betting in the Keystone State, along with the conspicuous absence of Pennsylvania online poker. What operators are interested in the market? And when will online poker go live in the state? Also, an update on the expansion of sports betting in America, and the hold up for online gambling in Michigan.
Hello friends… on our last program we spoke about online gambling going live in Pennsylvania when three internet casinos opened their virtual doors in the state. A week later, Churchill Downs has become the fourth to start taking customers… but still, I can’t help feeling like something is missing!
Despite all the excitement of being able to play online slots and a smattering of table games legally in the state, most of the questions we receive revolved around Pennsylvania online poker… namely: Where the hell is it? and… When the hell can we play it? I added the hells for dramatic effect.
The short answer is: No one the hell knows! We have a few indicators, some facts, a few hints… but basically we’ve been left on our own to put all these things together and take our best guess. First let’s just be honest: online gambling is a business, and when the states go into the business of online gambling they’re looking to make money. Online slots are by far more profitable than internet poker. The state’s know this, especially right now when there is no cross-border liquidity… that is player pools are completely contained within each individual state meaning those pools are very small.
So online poker may not be a priority for Pennsylvania, but that doesn’t mean it’s not coming. As we also mentioned on our last program the Mount Airy Casino in the state has a partnership in place with Poker Stars parent company the Stars Group. So what we do know for a fact is that Poker Stars has plans for Pennsylvania… as does Party Poker. Both operators have been very responsive to player questions about a launch in the state, although they cannot confirm a date yet. Also in the mix are the WSOP.com and 888… these two operators already work together in Nevada and New Jersey, so logically they’re gonna be interested in this market as well.
So, where the hell is Pennsylvania online poker? It’s coming! And when the hell can you play Pennsylvania online poker? No one knows… for sure… but experts at PennsylvaniaPoker.com believe it’s coming very soon. Some have guessed that it could be as early as September or October of this year, but considering how long it took the state to get internet casinos up and running, I may have to take the over on this one.
In a recent article from CNBC, the research and consulting firm Gambling Compliance estimates that soon over half of all Americans will live with legal regulated sports betting. Not only that, at its current rate of growth they estimate that by 2024 there will be 40 states with legal regulated sports betting, covering about 80 percent of the population. If those numbers sound optimistic to you, consider this: North Carolina just became the 17th state to regulate betting on sports… the 17th! That’s almost 35 percent of all the states right there! And the Supreme Court decision that made all of this possible? Barely over a year old!
Finally this week, Michigan online gambling has been at a standoff with state lawmakers on one side, and the state lottery and governor on the other. The governor here and her office say they are concerned about cannibalization… that is this misguided belief that somehow online gambling is going to suck all the money out of the state lottery. They also would like to impose a 40% tax rate on all internet bets…good thing she’s pretty!
As educated as I’m sure the governor is, proposing a 40% tax rate on this issue really puts her ignorance front and center… not to mention the fact that so-called cannibalization has never happened anywhere online gambling has been regulated. Not in America. Not anywhere else around the world. The proposed compromise on this is to remove slots from the legislation… you know, slots… the most lucrative part of any online gambling operation, in some ass backward attempt to protect the lotteries scratch cards! And with it 75% of the potential revenue generated. Even then, there’s no guarantee that the governor will go along with it! This, my friends, is your government at work!
