Rep. Rob Matzie (D-Beaver/Allegheny) sent a letter last week to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, urging the entity to act quickly in issuing necessary regulations to implement sports betting provisions in the commonwealth’s gaming law.
“Pennsylvania is ready,” Matzie said in a statement. “With our robust casino industry and the law’s provisions in place, we’re positioned to be one of a handful of states ready to have sports betting up and running quickly. But our neighbors are also gearing up. New Jersey announced that it plans to have sports betting available by Memorial Day. Every day that goes by without this billion-dollar industry in place is a day that revenue goes elsewhere.”
Matzie reached out to the board soon after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Murphy v. NCAA allowed states to legalize sports betting. Language from Matzie’s sports-betting bill was included in the omnibus gaming legislation signed by Gov. Tom Wolf last year, allowing Pennsylvania to be ready to offer such betting if and when it was legalized.
“We’re in a place where we could see tremendous tax revenue, but we’re squandering some of that if we don’t act immediately. I’m calling on the board to issue the temporary regulations that will let us move forward with this opportunity for the commonwealth,” he said.