Pennsylvania bill seeks 14% tax on daily fantasy sports; CSIG goes after Payne

A Pennsylvania state legislator has fleshed out his plans to explicitly authorize – and tax – daily fantasy sports activity in the state.

Republican Rep. George Dunbar announced last week that he would refile DFS legislation he’d proposed earlier this year with some modifications. The original bill would have authorized live DFS activity at the state’s 12 brick-and-mortar casinos, while the revised bill would require existing DFS operators to partner with a state casino.

Local ABC News affiliate ABC27 quoted Dunbar saying he’d met on Monday with DFS lobbyists, who apparently argued that DFS didn’t require regulation. Dunbar disagreed, arguing that unregulated DFS sites face the same type of crackdown that befell online poker and he wants to give DFS a more solid legal footing.

While still a work in progress, Dunbar’s legislation would require each casino wishing to offer DFS to pay a $5m operator fee, while each DFS site would pay a $1m vendor fee. The state would also take a 14% cut of DFS revenue, which is far less than the proposed 54% tax on real-money online gambling in state Sen. Kim Ward’s SB 900 legislation, but is far more than the 0% DFS sites currently pay. Dunbar said his bill could have a hearing with the House Gaming Oversight Committee as early as next week.