Pennsylvania Senate approves gambling expansion

The Keystone State’s Senate approved a bill to expand casino-style gambling in order to collect higher taxes.

US.- The Pennsylvania Senate gathered late last night to discuss a number of bills that are set to help the state’s budget. The Senate vote ended 31-19 in favor of the expansion of gambling in the state. With the latest approval, internet games, a new set of casinos across the state and more than 10 new locations would be authorised in Pennsylvania.

The plan is to expand casino-style gambling to online sites, airports, truck stops and 10 new casino sites. The bill that was approved just one hour after the Senate made the draft public is expected to raise more than US$200 million in license fees and higher gambling losses in a bid to help overcome the state’s deficit. With the approval Pennsylvania would become the first state in the United States to legalise and offer online casino and lottery games.

The bill requires casinos to pay a US$10 million payment every year to their host towns in order to reinstall and revindicate the measure that was struck down by the local Supreme Court more than a year ago.

Whilst the House approved the original legislation back in June, the bill that the Senate passed late last night was a revised version, therefore it was sent again to the House, where several reps complained about the time that they had to read the amendment. During the last minutes of the session, a motion to defer the vote on the bill until today was rejected by just one vote, but a series of delay motions were presented until time expired for today’s session. House leaders are expected to reconvene the session at 8 am today for a debate followed by a vote.