Last December, Pennsylvania passed SR 273, a resolution which calls for the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to study how profitable online gaming would be for the state. Of course, this is only the initial step towards legalized and regulated Pennsylvania internet poker. But it’s a start, and it would definitely be in the Keystone State’s best interests to approve online poker. Here’s a look at why PA could benefit greatly from passing poker legislation.
1. New Jersey has Online Poker
Okay, let’s just get the first and most obvious point out of the way first. Pennsylvania’s neighbors to the southeast have been offering online poker for weeks now and, minus some early tech difficulties, it’s proven to be a pretty successful operation. More importantly, it’s managed to sway a lot of Philadelphia residents over the border to just play online poker.
State Senate President Joseph Scarnati, who sponsored SR 273, is well aware of this effect. “With New Jersey doing internet gaming, and I believe the main intent was to get customers back from Pennsylvania,” he said. “We need to be a bit more aware of where we want to head with gaming. And what we want to do is keep those customers.” Scarnati accurately sums up this point – enough said.
2. Pennsylvania is the United States’ Second Largest Gaming Market
PA have firmly entrenched themselves as America’s second biggest land-based gaming market, generating $3.1 billion in 2013 compared to third-place Atlantic City’s $2.86 billion. Given that New Jersey’s gambling mecca and Nevada have already legalized and regulated internet poker, It only seems fitting that the remaining top-3 market should offer online gaming too.
Internet poker would be a perfect compliment to PA’s 12 brick-and-mortar casinos. Plus, as we alluded to before, it would keep many people in the eastern part of the state from crossing over into New Jersey just to play online.
3. Pittsburgh is becoming a Poker Hotbed
Philadelphia isn’t the only big city in PA. Pittsburgh also features a fairly large metropolitan area, and they’ve got a growing poker population too. Home to famed pros like Josh Brikis and Dewey Tomko, this city seems to be spawning more and more poker talent every year.
Poker Night co-producer Nolan Dalla really said it best regarding Pittsburgh’s poker scene when talking about why he chose to film an episode in the city. “(It’s) a fresh, new market where poker is popular and seems to be growing,” Dalla said. “We find that players are much more excited and open to what we are trying to do in poker locations that are relatively new and fresh.”
Of course, getting legal poker in Pennsylvania won’t be a smooth ride, especially with online-poker-enemy-number-one Sheldon Adelson owning the in-state Sands Bethlehem. But when you consider the points that we just discussed, Adelson’s opinion doesn’t really seem to be a major concern right now.