Pennsylvania guv officially approves online gambling bill

Pennsylvania’s governor has officially approved his state becoming the fourth in the land to permit legal online gambling.

On Monday, Gov. Tom Wolf added his signature to the comprehensive gambling expansion bill approved by both branches of the state legislature last week. The bill allows for intrastate online casino and poker products, as well as daily fantasy sports, online lottery sales, new satellite casinos and video gaming terminals (VGT) at select truck stops.

The bill will take effect 60 days from now, after which state regulators can begin the process of crafting regulations and processing online gambling applications. There are 12 licenses available for each online vertical – slots, casino table games and poker – with the state’s brick-and-mortar casino operators given first dibs.

Once the application window opens, the casinos will have 120 days to submit their bids. Assuming any licenses remain unclaimed at the end of this period, other qualified entities will be permitted to apply. And given the state’s plan to impose a punitive 54% tax on online slots – mirroring the state’s nation-high land-based slots tax – there may actually be some licenses left over.