Pennsylvania pol previews new online gambling bill with 25% tax

Pennsylvania is wasting no time getting its online gambling and daily fantasy sports ducks in a row but operators won’t be wild about the proposed tax rates.

On Monday, Pennsylvania State Sen. Jay Costa (pictured) filed a memo detailing his plans to introduce sweeping gaming industry legislation “in the near future.” Costa says his legislation will be based on HB 1887, the House bill that died in December after the Senate failed to bring it up for a vote before the legislative session concluded.

Costa’s bill will charge casinos a $10m license fee for taking their action online, while online technology vendors will pay $5m. The fees will go into the state’s General Fund. Previous bills set license fees at $8m for casinos and $2m for vendors.

Costa wants all categories of casinos to be eligible to offer “all casino games (i.e. slots and table games)” over the internet, but casinos would be prohibited from offering online gaming on casino property “to deter tax avoidance by casinos.”