A state lawmaker is urging colleagues to support a bill he is drafting to legalize esports betting in Pennsylvania.
Representative Ed Neilson (D-Philadelphia) began circulating a memorandum last week making the case for legitimating video-game betting in the Keystone State, observing that the esports business took in $1.1 billion worldwide in 2022 and is predicted to soon realize a $1.8-billion global value. Neilson ascribes much of the recently increased enthusiasm around esports to the lifestyle constraints imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
In 2004, Governor Ed Rendell (D) signed a bill permitting establishment of a limited number of casinos which initially featured only slots. Six years later, he would sign an expansion of casino privileges to include table games. Currently, 16 casinos with these offerings operate across Pennsylvania.
In 2017, Rendell’s successor Tom Wolf (D) approved a measure allowing such forms of web-based gambling as online slots, poker and athletic gaming. That legislation also made Pennsylvania one of 32 states to accept sports betting, which can be done either in person or online. The commonwealth taxes gaming revenues at 54 percent; altogether, gambling in Pennsylvania now yields monthly revenues close to $500 million.
Video-game betting however remains restricted in Pennsylvania and numerous other states. Neighboring New Jersey legalized the activity last year, limiting it to those ages 18 and up.
“I believe Pennsylvania should quickly add esports to our gaming portfolio, bolstering our economy and the attendant tax revenue,” Neilson wrote in his memo. “Therefore, I am introducing legislation to legalize betting on esports in Pennsylvania.”
The representative noted there are already plans in the works to build an esports facility in Philadelphia that will be “the first of its kind in the United States.”
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Bradley Vasoli is managing editor of The Pennsylvania Daily Star. Follow Brad on Twitter at @BVasoli. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Ed Neilson” by Rep. Ed Neilson. Background Photo “Esports” by RODNAE Productions.
