Pennsylvania Lottery at Odds with State Casinos Over iLottery Slots
Pennsylvania has quickly established itself as one of the more progressive states when it comes to the expansion of real money gambling. The road map for this rapid expansion started towards the end of last year with the passage of new legislation. Part of that legislation expanded the range and scope of real money gambling online.
According to a recent post on the Philadelphia Inquirer’s website Philly.com by staff writer Andrew Maykuth , the state itself may be stepping on the toes of other gambling operators with the release of iLottery slot machine games. The report goes as far to say that PA’s decision to offer slot machine games and other casino-style offerings online through its lottery system could result in a possible legal battle with land-based casinos and race tracks looking to expand into the realm of online gambling.
Why Is Pennsylvania Lottery at Odds with State Casinos Over iLottery Slots?
The trouble started in early June when the Pennsylvania Lottery initiated a soft launch of iLottery featuring instant win games of chance. In a post on May 29 by Grant Lucas on PlayPennslvania.com, it was announced that the waiting was over will an expanded online lottery that included certain forms of casino-style gambling in the form of online games. A month earlier, Keno was launched at authorized dealers as part of last year’s gambling expansion bill in what is the 46th anniversary of the state’s lottery system.
PA’s lottery proceeds have been benefitting senior citizens since 1972 and with revenues expected to grow given this new foray into iLottery, many of the programs designed to help the elderly in the state should see their budgets expand accordingly.
In a direct quote by Drew Svitko as the executive director of the PA Lottery, he stated, “As we reflect on 46 great years, we’re hard at work to build the Pennsylvania Lottery of the future. In coming months we’ll launch an iLottery online gaming platform and new types of draw games that will help us modernize our business and generate new funds to benefit older Pennsylvanians.”
Uncertainly surround the state’s lottery system taking its offerings online under this new gaming platform
Quite a bit of uncertainly surround the state’s lottery system taking its offerings online under this new gaming platform remained all the way into late March. Work continued and, under the guidelines of the soft launch, the Pa Lottery made the online games active without promoting them. This was designed to work out any kinks in the system before a full-blown launch of the in-state iLottery.
According to Lotterypost.com, Pennsylvania’s iLottery has already generated $21.6 million in sales. This makes it easy to see why it has quickly caught the attention of other legal gambling operators in the state that have already paid a hefty licensing fee to offer legal real-money gambling in a number of different forms.
Svitko told local media that from a launch date of June 4 there were 45,000 registered players on the new iLottery system in the first 26 days of operation. It also said that $18.7 million had been paid out in winnings despite the limited offering of just 13 games.
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