As Casino Guardian reported less than a fortnight ago, West Virginia emerged as the state which faced the matters related to online gambling legislation most recently. However, some new reports provide information that the state is not very likely to see any change in the status quo of the online gaming within the current legislative session of the competent authorities.
Earlier in March 2017, the bill H 3067 was presented, which made West Virginia part of the states that have been seeking to make iGaming legal. As we have revealed before, West Virginia has never made an attempt of legalising online gambling, so H 3067 is the first online gaming bill that has ever been presented on the territory of the state.
The new bill is based by five sponsors, led by Shawn Fluharty. The new piece of legislation, however, has been presented with very short notice, which makes time pressing it, with the legislative calendar literally working against it. The legislature is set to see its session ending on April 8th, which means that proposed bills should be out of the local Committee on April 2nd. Also, a bill that is to be given the chance to proceed further need to be out of the House to the Senate on March 29th.
Up to date, the online gambling bill H 3067 has only been presented to the initial committee, and that is all which has been happening to it. Under these circumstances and taking into account the fact that time is pressing the schedule, it would probably be hard for the piece of legislation to pass further without receiving the support of the top lawmaker of the House.
Of course, even if the new bill turns out as unsuccessful, the very fact of introducing online gambling legislation in the state of West Virginia could be seen as a positive thing, as it provides the state with options for further development.
What is more, the bill H 3067 has been presented as part of the state’s efforts to generate new tax revenue. This has been also the case in a number of other states, including Michigan, Pennsylvania and New York, and there is nothing wrong about it. What is more, all of the afore-mentioned states have seen a number of unsuccessful attempts for online gambling legislation until the matter has been seriously put on the agenda.
- Author
Daniel Williams
