Pennsylvania Hopeful for Online Gambling as Bill Passes Vote

A glimmer of hope for online gambling supporters is peaking out of Pennsylvania. Last week, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed an amendment linking the legalization of online gambling to the state’s daily fantasy sports (DFS) regulation bill. HB2150 passed the House vote on Tuesday with 114-85 in favor, and it is on its way to the senate. 

This bodes well after what happened in New York earlier this month, where the Senate approved a bill to regulate DFS but ignored the online gambling bill.

In Pennsylvania, this move is particularly encouraging, after the strange misunderstanding that occurred in the House of Representatives earlier this month, when the House voted against two separate amendments that would have legalized online gambling. One bill called for allowing online gambling, along with video gaming terminals (VGTs) at airport terminals and off-track betting sites. The second bill called for allowing VGTs at taverns, bars, social clubs and volunteer firehouses.

Immediately after the vote, a motion for reconsideration was initiated. Apparently, lawmakers didn’t really understand what they were voting on.

The motion for reconsideration created the potential for passing this new bill, which combines DFS and online gambling, but leaves out VGTs. This will probably end up working in the current bill's favor - VGTs are thought to be quite unpopular in the Pennsylvania Senate, which means that if the original bills had been passed in the House, they likely wouldn’t stand a chance later on.

Will it Happen?

Experience teaches us that in all that has to do with such bills, one cannot be sure about Senate passage until it actually happens. If it does, it will be up to Gov. Tom Wolf to give the final OK and seeing that Penn is keen on finding new revenue sources for budget improvement, it's likely that it'll pass that hurdle too.