Last week’s Supreme Court ruling is still making waves across the entire country and this should continue to happen until more states finally launch their own sports betting industries. Key among these states is Pennsylvania, which like many other states has been positioning itself to capitalize on the lifting of the federal ban on sports betting that was otherwise known as the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA).
Even before the long-awaited Supreme Court ruling was delivered, the Keystone state’s lawmakers and regulators had been pondering over a legalized and regulated sport betting industry. This was part of the state’s gambling expansion bill that also happened to encompass other aspects of gaming such as online gambling, online lotteries as well as video gaming terminals at truck stops.
In addition to this, Pennsylvania’s 12 operational casinos make it the second largest state casino industry in the United States. Furthermore, it boasts of being one of the biggest professional sports markets and the home of the reigning Super Bowl champions.
All these factors give the impression that sports betting on Pennsylvania will be nothing short of a home run. However, it is not that simple.
Lots of Competition
Only a handful number of states are considering moving into the sports betting space – while this would naturally mean that there would not be as much competition, all the states considering the move happen to be in the northeast. These states include Delaware, New York, New Jersey and West Virginia, all of whom have the muscle to drive vibrant sports betting industries. In fact, many of these competitor states have solid timelines for the debut or launch of sports betting.
Pennsylvania falls at a disadvantage here simply because it seems to be stuck in the middle even though it already has a sports betting law in place. The regulations that will govern the state’s sports betting industry are yet to be defined and this will take time especially because, as it stands, the regulators have quite a lot to deal with thanks to the gambling expansion law that was passed towards the end of last year. The Keystone state has handled its gambling expansion endeavors quite well and this could imply that the sports offering that is yet to be launched will be of the highest quality and as widespread as it is in some other states.
Unfortunately, for now, this is just a mighty big assumption which is further discredited by the sky-high licensing fees and taxes that the state is imposing on the operators. The outcome of these factors may or may not have a profound effect on the overall stability of its sports betting industry. Therefore, a lot has to be done to ensure that instead of surviving, the sports betting space in Pennsylvania thrives.