Pennsylvania Testing Online Gaming
For months, Pennsylvania has had pending legislation in regards to online gaming. Officials in Pennsylvania have been closely watching how Delaware, Nevada, and New Jersey have been doing in regards to the amount of money that they’re bringing in through online gambling. Now, one casino is testing the waters.
Parx Casino, located in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, launched an online gaming website. It’s no ordinary website, though, it’s a full fledged online gaming site – the only difference is that no money is actually exchanged. The whole experience is simulated. However, if and when the option to legally gamble online comes to pass in Pennsylvania, the site will be ready.
They should be encouraged by news from those states, though. In fact, despite some casinos closing down, New Jersey managed to beat last year’s numbers for the month. This shows that online gambling boosts revenue for the states that it’s legalized in.
When Pennsylvania legalizes online gambling, the website is already ready to support interstate gaming, and would possibly offer no deposit bonuses to bring first time gamers in. There’s only a handful of casinos in the state of Pennsylvania, despite there being nearly 13 million people in the state. This means that there’s likely quite a few people that would like to gamble without traveling to the casino. For those people, online gaming would be welcomed with open arms.
The legalization of online gambling in Pennsylvania couldn’t come soon enough. As mentioned above, there’s very few casinos in the state. Those casinos are losing revenue, likely due to the public anticipating the arrival of online gambling.
The bill, known as House Bill 1235, was introduced in April 2013. It was then amended in late June by State Senator Edwin B. Erickson. If passed, not only will online poker be legal, but other forms of Internet gambling will be legalized as well.
Pennsylvania legalizing online gambling could set off a wave of other states legalizing it as well, including California. Should California legalize it, most other states should and likely will follow suit.
The issue of online gambling will be a major issue in the next election. If you’ve read the other articles, you know that Rick Perry, current Governor of Texas, opposes online gambling. He’s also a potential presidential candidate in the 2016 elections.
Though you’re not hearing about online gaming too much in the news, that’s likely going to change very shortly, and it all starts with Pennsylvania, who appears to already be preparing themselves to legalize online gambling. Times are changing – will we progress as a nation or fall back into the same rut? It all depends on what happens over the next year or two. Over the next few months, all eyes will be on Pennsylvania.