Pennsylvania casinos lose lawsuit
A judge ruled against a lawsuit filed by seven Pennsylvania casinos that sued the state lottery for offering casino-like games online.
US.- Seven Pennsylvania casinos tried to sue the state lottery. However, a judge rejected their attempt to sue the Pennsylvania Lottery for offering casino-like games online.
Judge Cohn Jubelirer dismissed the challenge as the Pennsylvania casinos couldn’t prove they had lost money.
The Pennsylvania Lottery began offering iLottery games in May 2018. Pennsylvania casinos sought an injunction against them but failed to get them ruled illegal.
“Any loss in casino revenue will hurt Pennsylvania’s tax collection for property tax relief and local improvement projects funded by gaming tax dollars,” they complained.
Casino auction
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) announced this week that it will hold an auction for the right to apply for a Category 4 casino licence. The announcement was made following the ratification by the board at its public meeting to re-implement the auction process that ended in April of 2018.
The first auction in this round is scheduled for September 4. The auction will be held in the PGCB’s Public Hearing Room located on the second floor of Strawberry Square in Harrisburg. All current holders of a Category 1, 2 or 3 casino licence in Pennsylvania are eligible to participate in this auction, PGCB said.
Under the Gaming Expansion Act of 2017, the Gaming Control Board was authorised to award up to 10 Category 4 (satellite) slot machine operator licences through an auction process which was conducted from January to April 2018, resulting in five successful auctions garnering US$127 million in bids to secure the right to obtain a Category 4 licence.
The Gaming Expansion Act 42 of 2017 established a minimum bid price of US$7.5 million for Category 4 slot machine licences. A separate certificate for table games can then be obtained through Board approval for a fee of US$2.5 million. A Category 4 facility may have between 300 and 750 slot machines along with a maximum of 30 table games at opening with the capability of adding an additional 10 table games after its first year of operation.
