This week, West Virginia joined the other six US states that have introduced bills in order to make online gambling legal and regulated in the state over 2017. The state now aims to generate new tax revenue, so it became oriented towards presenting an online gambling bill to the state legislature’s House of Delegates.
Never before had West Virginia made an attempt of legalising iGaming, so this is the first online gaming bill presented. What is more, the step came more as a surprise despite the fact that at the beginning of 2017 West Virginia was considered as one of the states that could turn to the online gambling legislation.
The bill presented to the House of Delegates was sponsored by Shawn Fluharty. Apart from Fluharty, there are four more sponsors of the bill, including Sean Hornbuckle, Joseph Canestraro, Mick Bates and Mike Pushkin. It is called H 3067 and is focused on making Internet gambling legal through local operators who already run gaming facilities in the state.
Bill H 3067 Basic Regulations
Under the proposed H 3067 bill, the licensing and regulation duties of the online gambling operations in the state are assigned to the West Virginia Lottery Commission. It is also the Lottery Commission that is to be entitled with the responsibility to impose specific regulations, but there are some basing standards included in the proposed bill.
The online gaming operators would be required to make sure that no under-aged players access their websites. In addition, they would be responsible for verifying that they accept players from the state or the jurisdictions that are permitted according to the Bill.
Problem gambling prevention is another matter that has been included in the H 3067, with the Internet gambling operators being required to provide fair, transparent and honest games, too.
In addition, the bill H 3067 also has provisions under which the West Virginia Lottery Commission would be permitted to enter into interstate agreements. What is more, unauthorised online gambling is officially prohibited and there are criminal penalties which are to be imposed on the operators breaching the law.
If this piece of legislation comes in force, online gambling licences will be granted only to operators that currently run licensed gaming venues or race tracks on the territory of the state. They would be charged with a licensing fee of $50,000, which actually considered as quite lower in comparison to the million-dollar fees proposed by other US states.
A tax rate estimated to 14% of the operator’s gross gaming revenue has been proposed by the H 3067 bill. This sets the tax rate very close to the ones proposed by the rest of the US states seeking to make iGaming legal.
Sports Betting
Shawn Fluharty has earlier this month urged the state of West Virginia to make sports betting legal. The politician from the Democratic Party introduced legislation that declares the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) which prohibits sports betting operations, as being enacted unlawfully.
Fluharty has introduced the House Bill 2751 aimed at making sports betting pools legal at gaming venues that already run under a license. This bill is currently in the House Judiciary Committee.
- Author
Daniel Williams
