Pennsylvanian Senator Sean Wiley’s draft proposal on gambling (see previous report) includes provisions for the regulation and licensing of online gambling, more details on which have become available this week.
Wiley is focused on internet poker, and online casino gaming is excluded from his legalisation drive, which envisages fully regulated and licensed online poker available to state punters by the beginning of 2017.
Licensing would be restricted to existing land casino companies licensed in Pennsylvania and prepared to cough up a $500,000 licence fee and taxes at 36 percent of GGR.
Wiley proposes that the state revenues raised from online gambling be allocated to the state racing industry (2 percent per annum), a Casino Reinvestment Grant Fund which has still to be created ($10 million a year) and the remainder to facilitate a school property tax freeze for senior citizens
Wiley’s draft bill also contains wide-ranging amendments to the state law regarding land gambling and casinos, one of them a proposal to freeze further land casino licence awards in order to review the market.