Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed an expansive gambling bill, officially making Pennsylvania the fourth state in the US to legalize online poker and gambling. The other three states of New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware also offer legal online gambling.
The legislation includes the legalization of daily fantasy sports, sports betting and more. The biggest part of the gaming package is of course online poker and casinos.
Don't expect to see online casinos and poker rooms sprout up overnight, establishing these entities will take some time. The PA Gaming Control Board must still establish regulations and hand out licenses for iGaming businesses. We should start to see online casinos and poker rooms in the state by middle of 2018.
The Pennsylvania state legislature estimates to receive $200 million in revenue for the current fiscal year from gaming. Most of that revenue will likely come from licenses for online gambling and poker.
The state will anticipates handing out a number of $10 million licenses that allow operators to delve into online slot machines, table games and poker all at once. Online slot machine revenue in the state will be taxed at a rate of 54 percent while online table games and poker will be taxed at 16 percent.
