Pennsylvania egaming bill faces delay until 2017

 Omnibus gambling bill failed to reach a Senate vote thanks to fears it would not have passed

The Pennsylvania state Senate may not vote on egaming legislation until 2017, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The state’s House of Representatives passed HB2150 to legalize online gaming and daily fantasy sports in late June, but the Senate did not vote on the bill before its summer hiatus.

While the Senate Appropriations Chairman Patrick Browne told the Associated Press he expects the bill to be addressed in the fall, a source close to the situation told EGR NA it will likely be pushed back to Q1 2017 for political reasons.

The bill is being considered so as to raise $100m to fill a state budget shortfall. However, since the bulk of that money could come from up-front licence fees, the bill would only need to be passed a month or two before the June 30, 2017 budget deadline.

One third of the Senate is also up for re-election in November’s election, and members are reportedly unwilling to put their head above the parapet and support ambitious legislation just before election time.

“Pennsylvania has a big religious belt in the middle and expanding gaming in a major way made members uncomfortable,” the source said. “And you don’t want to call a bill up in the Senate if you don’t have the votes, because if it doesn’t pass, then it’s dead.”

Compounding those concerns was the wide ranging nature of the gambling bill, with clauses on app gambling, egaming, DFS, sportsbetting, and a variety of land-based measures.

“There were so many ideas on there that it just got weighed down,” the source said. “Every time you threw on another good idea, you lost a couple of votes somewhere.”

He suggested the bill would likely get stripped down to just egaming and DFS before being put to the Senate to give it the best chance of passing.

However he was optimistic a streamlined bill would have a good chance of passing before next year’s state budget deadline.

“I’m pessimistic this year, but I tend to think we can get the votes in 2017,” the source said.