PA's New Budget Includes iGaming as Key Revenue Stream
Published July 31, 2017 by Elana K
The new Pennsylvania budget has gotten online gambling supporters excited—it includes $200 million in revenue earned from online gambling, which of course, can only become a reality if online gambling is, indeed, legalized.
The new Pennsylvania budget has gotten online gambling supporters excited—it includes $200 million in revenue earned from online gambling, which of course, can only become a reality if online gambling is, indeed, legalized.
Pennsylvania currently faces a $2 billion budget deficit, which the senate has been working hard to fill. Other than online gambling, additional streams of revenue include: new taxes, borrowing against a multistate settlement with tobacco companies, and traditional gaming expansion.
Nothing’s Actually Been Approved
The proposed budget is being supported by Governor Tom Wolf, but that doesn’t mean it will face easy approval. There are still a number of longstanding issues.
The first issue is that an online gambling bill has not actually been passed yet. It’s been going back and forth between the Senate and the House of Representatives, and nothing has been finalized.
One of the points that the two bodies have been grappling with is that of video gaming terminals (VGTs), which has both strong advocates and opponents on both sides.
The next issue—the House has not yet signed off on the proposed budget. Obviously, this is a somewhat integral part of the process that must be completed if Pennsylvania wants to tackle its multi-billion dollar budget deficit.
Best Case Scenario?
What online gambling supporters are hoping for is that both the House and the Senate will approve the proposed budget, come to some sort of resolution on the issue of VGTs, and pass final legislation in the fall.
Won't Get Fooled Again
Online gambling supporters have probably learned by now that there is no point in getting their hopes up yet—after all, Pennsylvania went through an almost identical process at the end of last year. Governor Wolf has supported a budget bill that included $100 million from gambling and online gambling, but the Senate simply never passed the bill.
Will this year be different? We’ll see soon enough.
