Online Gaming Revenue For PA Racing?

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In Pennsylvania, newly-introduced legislation regarding internet gambling is calling for the state government to receive a percentage of internet gaming's gross revenue, and the bill calls for Pennsylvania's horse racing industry to receive a percentage of that.

House Bill 1235, which was introduced on Monday, April 22 and referred to the committee on gaming oversight, states that the State of Pennsylvania should receive 28 per cent of internet gaming's gross revenue, and that the racing industry should receive 15 per cent of the state's share.

A copy of House Bill 1235 is available here.

Content found on pages 69, 70 and 71 of the bill explains the breakdown of how the state will receive the funds from internet gaming, and how the racing industry will receive its cut of the revenues via the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development Fund.

The bill states that from Pennsylvania's 28 per cent of the gross revenue:

(4) Fifteen percent shall be deposited into the fund established in accordance with section 1405 (relating to Pennsylvania Race Horse Development Fund). All moneys deposited into the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development Fund shall be distributed in accordance with section 1406 (relating to distributions from Pennsylvania Race Horse Development Fund) and shall be distributed and used solely for the purposes enumerated in section 1406 and for no other purpose whatsoever.

The State of New Jersey is also in the process of getting internet gaming in place.

In Ontario, the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp., as part of its gaming modernization plan, is planning to introduce online gaming to residents.

In Ontario, the reigning minority Liberal Government and the OLG have yet to announce whether the horse racing industry will receive a percentage of online gaming revenue, but Premier Kathleen Wynne did announce earlier this year that the provincial horse-racing industry will be incorporated into the OLG's modernization strategy.

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