Another online gambling bill has been presented in Pennsylvania. The online gambling and gaming reform piece of legislation, which is called Senate Bill 524, has been officially introduced by number of Democratic State Senators.
The four supporters and co-sponsors of the bill are Senate Minority Leader Jay Costa, Senator Vincent Hughes, Senator Judy Schwank and Senator Wayne Fontana. The memoranda about the co-sponsorship was first presented back in January 2017.
Also, apart from the Senate Bill 524, a number of state senators from the Republican party brought another piece of legislation which complements the House of Representatives gaming reform bill which was introduced at the beginning of March.
Senate Bill 524 Reforms
As mentioned above, the SB 524 is the third piece of online gambling legislation after the SB 477 and HB 392, with the two of them being pretty similar. Although some of the provisions presented by the new bill are similar to the ones included in its predecessors, it includes some reforms, mainly in terms of taxation and fees. The bill is also focused on legalising and regulating online gambling operations across the state of Pennsylvania. It also seeks to legalise daily fantasy sports and online lottery.
Multi-state progressive slot machines are also allowed to be run in the state under the provisions of the Senate Bill 524. The latter allows tablet gaming at certain airports, as well as slot machines which are considered as skill-based and hybrid ones.
What is more, the SB 524 restores the local share tax imposed on host and surrounding communities. Casino facility requirement which is currently imposed on Category 3 casinos would be eliminated under the provisions of the new online gambling legislation, and would be replaced with a fee that is to be charged once only. However, the new piece of legislation is to impose a higher tax rate of 25% on both online gambling and daily fantasy sports in comparison to the 14% tax rate previously offered.
Apart from the higher tax rates included in the SB 524 provisions, the newly-presented piece of legislation also offers a larger licensing fee estimated to $10 million. In comparison, the previously introduced bills offered licensing gees of $8 million. If the Senate Bill 524 is passed, industry vendors would also be hit by a larger rate, estimated to $5 millions compared to the $2-million one implemented in the other bills.
- Author
Daniel Williams
