Legal News

At the April 2023 meeting for the Pennsylvania Control Board, regulators handed down fines totaling $147,000 to three casinos in the state including the popular Mount Airy Casino.

State Sen. Gene Yaw recently sent a memo to fellow lawmakers alerting them to upcoming legislation he plans to release outlining a law tightening regulations on skill games. Sen. Yaw believes the new legislation could generate $300 million in new taxable revenue for the state.

In a recent survey by Penn State University, over 30% of gamblers from Pennsylvania admitted they suffer from a gambling addiction. With roughly $1.4 billion in profits, the PA online gambling market in Pennsylvania has become huge business but opens the door to a dramatic increase in problem gambling.

During their latest public meeting on March 22, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board approved three fines for online betting PA outlets for failure to follow state wagering regulations.

Reps Dina Titus, a Democrat from Nevada, and Guy Reschenthaler, a Republican from Pennsylvania, reintroduced legislation to repeal the federal handle tax. Although the less-than one percent tax doesn’t appear to take much from sportsbooks, the two representatives from states with legal sports betting believes the tax unfairly prevent growth in the gaming industry.

To clarify and remove any possible confusion for Pennsylvania bettors, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board told the state’s sports books they can no longer use the term “free bet” in their marketing.

Both gentleman say that the casino began using a time clock that would register only 7 hours and 45 minutes when they clocked out after a shift lasting over eight hours. The casino then forced their employees to work uncompensated for other duties including card and dice inventories, jackpot payments, and training sessions.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s recent decision to award Bally’s and their parent company, SC Gaming, the contract for a Category 4 mini-casino in College Township could land the regulatory group in the crosshairs of Pennsylvania’s highest court.

Pennsylvania’s iGaming market opened in June 2019. The NCPG report shows state regulators have successfully prevented problem gambling on a wide scale by implementing guidelines that help players receive all the information they need before making a wager.

With a recent study showing that only 14% of Pennsylvania adults smoke tobacco regularly, Rep. Frankel reintroduced his legislative measure to repeal the exemption and ban smoking from all gaming locations.