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Pennsylvania state Rep. Ed Neilson introduced legislation earlier this week to legalize esports betting.
The bill would add esports to the list of “sports events” that bettors in the Keystone State could wager on.
Currently, Pennsylvania sports betting is limited to professional and college sports, and motor racing.
Second time around
Neilson attempted to legalize esports betting in 2023, but the bill stalled shortly after introduction.
Neilson’s new measure, HB 1636, defines esports as:
“An organized competition involving video games in which players compete against each other, individually or as teams, and the dominant element in determining the results is the relative skill of the players.”
HB 136 does not currently include any restrictions as to betting on esports events that involve players under 18. Competitors can be as young as 13.
Pennsylvania does not allow betting on high school sports, nor does it allow player prop betting on college sports.
Bill would give gaming regulators more authority
The language in HB 136 includes esports or “any other competition or event of any kind approved for sports wagering by the board.”
Neilson wrote a memo in December explaining why he thought the new wording needed to be added to the sports betting law.
“Our laws do not provide the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) with this authority. These issues came to light a few years ago when there was interest in offering wagers on the National Football League draft.
“Unfortunately, the NFL draft was not specifically referenced as a sporting event in our statutes, and the PGCB had no authority to approve the event.”
Neilson said the PGCB should be trusted to add betting markets.
“To address these issues, I will be introducing legislation that would authorize wagering on esports events and provide the PGCB with the deference in deciding what Pennsylvania’s sports wagering catalog should look like.
“This change would not allow for anything and everything to be wagered on in Pennsylvania.”
