HARRISBURG, Pa. – The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board continues to work on regulations for sports betting. This comes about eight months after Governor Tom Wolf signed an extensive Pennsylvania gambling package.
“We are continuing to push the ball down the field,” said Doug Harbach, director of communications for PGCB.
The PGCB passed more regulations Wednesday, inching closer to implementing sports betting in the Commonwealth. The goal is to ensure compliance with the Federal Wire Act, making sure servers collecting bets are in Pennsylvania, along with mandating certificate holders and casinos to contract with third parties to ensure a high level of integrity.
“As always, our main focus on sports wagering as with other expansion of gaming is to protect the public,” said Harbach. “So we’re going to launch these when we feel we’re in a position with the right regulations to do so.”
At the board’s next meeting in July, they plan to pass regulations on what type of games will be allowed in sports betting in the state. As for when sports betting could be up and running in Pennsylvania, that depends on two things: When the final regulations are passed by the PGCB and casinos in state to petition to have sports betting.”
“There’s a goal by many to have this up and running as quickly as possible because as we know gaming expansion was about creating revenue for the Commonwealth,” said Harbach. “So we’re working as quickly as we can toward that.”
As of Wednesday, the board has not received an application from a casino. Several casinos, including Hollywood Casino in Dauphin County have raised concerns about the $10 million license fee and 36 percent tax they would need to pay to have sports gambling. Those fees were set by the Pennsylvania Legislature, and only they can change them.
