Pennsylvania may have become the nevada of the East featuring its land casinos, but the state is not searching to follow the first with regards to games that are offering. While at least two of the state’s neighbors are pushing forward with online gambling plans, Pennsylvania isn’t worried, and apparently want to take a ‚wait to see‘ approach to Internet video gaming.

Waiting and Watching

Surrounding states New Jersey and Delaware are both seeking to launch their online gambling platforms this fall, with Delaware set to begin offering a real income play as early as Halloween. But according to officials in Pennsylvania, they’ll need to take a peek at how things go in those states and potentially others before they even consider allowing such games to be licensed in the Keystone State.

‚I don’t see any groundswell that is real now for Internet gaming,‘ said Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board chairman William H. Ryan Jr. at a conference in Philadelphia. During that conference, Ryan took component in a panel discussion on gambling regulation that also included officials from New Jersey and Delaware, as well as representatives from Massachusetts and Florida. Most of these states have expanded or are looking at expanding the gambling options in their states, though just New Jersey and Delaware have included Internet video gaming.

Certainly one of the top concerns for officials in the state is the potential effect on existing land-based casinos therefore the Pennsylvania Lottery.

‚We want [land-based gambling] to survive here and also to prosper, because it puts money in our coffers,‘ said State Senator Kim Ward.

Online, On Land or Both

This concern are at the heart of many gambling that is online in the United States. Many state governments have considered online gaming as a potential supply of new tax revenues. Nevertheless, it’s been difficult to determine how money that is much be raised, because it’s possible that a number of the money gained on websites will likely be money that might have otherwise been spent at a brick-and-mortar casino. Pennsylvania officials hope that nj will show them just how much cash could be earned through online gambling, and how much damage if any is done to land-based casinos in the act.

That’s not to say that Pennsylvania isn’t taking a look at the possibility of adding online betting sometime later on. It is no coincidence that the World Regulatory Briefing USA was just held in Philadelphia this present year, and state officials were truly interested in hearing from others with more experience in the online realm.

‚We’re basically hoping to find out more about how other states, jurisdictions as well as some jurisdictions…would that is international Internet gambling,‘ said Kevin O’Toole, executive director of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.

But at the present time, legislators all agree totally that online gambling isn’t being considered in Pennsylvania, plus it’s maybe not a priority for debate or research right now. Instead, any expansion of gambling options will probably come into the world that is brick-and-mortar.

‚What we have been seeing is far more curiosity about legislation that will provide the several thousand bars and social groups the authority to have tiny games of chance,‘ Control Board chairman Ryan said. He added that these groups also provide much more active lobbying teams in the state, which offers them a better chance of seeing their dilemmas show up in the legislature.

And that’s likely the reason the state’s Senate Appropriations Committee passed legislation this that would allow bars to have raffles and drawings, as long as 60 percent of the money raised comes back to the state week. Cha-ching.