House Bill 1013 Seeks to Ban Online Gambling in Pennsylvania

pennsylvania_state_sealIn Pennsylvania, three online gambling bills have been proposed to see online poker gaming take place within the state. While proponents of iGaming are working hard to pass such legislation, a new bill has been introduced that may harm the positive efforts. Representative Thomas Murt filed House Bill 1013 this past Monday, with seven co-sponsors in support of an online gambling ban within the state.

According to PokerUpdate, in December of last year, Murt had stated he would be filing the bill, which is basically Murt reintroducing Representative Paul Clymer’s HB 1404 from two years ago. The new bill has the same language and would prohibit the state Gaming Control Board from creating rules and regulations that would allow online gambling.

The bill also prohibits any individual or business from taking part in wagers online with a specific prohibition on collecting cash or any currency form. This portion of the bill would keep other options such as Bitcoin from being used for online gaming. Penalties for violating the ban would include a $300 fine for the first offense, as much as $600 on a second offense and as much as $2,000 fine and up to one year in prison for a third offense.

It is odd to see the bill being introduced now after so much movement has taken place to allow online gaming within the state. Last week the state held a hearing on online gaming took place that was positive in regards to the subject of online poker and seemed to show the state would most likely be the next to pass legislation to regulate online poker in the United States.

Right before the hearing took place, the House of Representatives in Pennsylvania passed HR 140 which requested Congress to not pass the Restoration of America’s Wire Act which would hurt the online gaming market in the US and take away the chance for Pennsylvania to become involved in the industry.

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