After July 1st, the state legislature of Pennsylvania missed the soft deadline to complete a budget agreement. With the majority being republicans, the budget cannot seem to be agreed upon between legislative members and Governor Tom Wolf, a democrat. The talks have not included online gambling and the activity may be left to the wayside as the governor would like to use other methods to raise money for the state.
The governor’s plan is to change the income tax code of the state and create new taxes. Natural gas production is on the mind of Wolf and not gambling. Legislature would like to see revenues earned without raising taxes. The republicans would like to reform existing revenue options rather than create new ones. One such proposal having been introduced was to reform gaming, including offering online gaming in Pennsylvania.
Based on information from the latest reports of the state, including a report at USPoker, the budget talks have resulted in every form of gaming reform to have been removed from debate except online gambling. However, it now appears online gambling will be passed over as well. The option is by no means dead in the state but it does appear as though Pennsylvania legislature will not be passing online gambling legislation in 2015.
In June, budget talks first began and proponents of online gaming plus analysts had tried to push the issue, hoping to see legislation move forward. However, just one month early, hope ran out for the state to try some form of legislation to regulate online gambling in the state.
At one point, Pennsylvania had moved to the forefront as the next individual state to enter the online gambling market in the US. However, movement has stalled. It will be interesting to see how the state will make up the much needed revenues and if talks will continue to include iGaming, or if the state will be pausing until next year in regards to poker and casino gaming online.
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