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Pennsylvania state lawmakers want to evaluate whether its gambling expansions have increased problem gambling rates and if stricter regulations are needed.
A resolution approved by Pennsylvania's House of Representatives on Wednesday (May 14) directs the legislature’s Joint State Government Commission to conduct a study on sports betting and iGaming in the state, as well as recommend ways to reduce problem gambling behaviors and gambling debt.
The commission will also study how to reduce the exposure of children to sports betting and related iGaming advertisements.
The House passed House Resolution 60 by a vote of 189-14 on Wednesday before the Pennsylvania General Assembly adjourned, with lawmakers set to reconvene on June 2.
Democratic Representative Tarik Khan, the main sponsor of the resolution, noted that “sports-betting advertisements seem ubiquitous, with approximately $1bn spent annually to run prolific ads on social media and TV broadcasts, sports talk radio, and sporting events”.
“Sports-betting advertisements, particularly during sports broadcasts, are easily viewable by children, which some experts believe could lead to an early interest in gambling,” Khan said.
The requested study must include information regarding “marketing strategies” by sports betting and iGaming licensees, “such as promotions, in-game advertising, advertising during sports broadcasts and webcasts, as well as the usage of celebrities and animated spokespersons”.
Khan’s resolution also directs the study commission to collect information on how online licensees operate loan, bonus, incentive and VIP programs, and make recommendations on how to further regulate sports betting and iGaming to reduce problem gambling behaviors and gambling debt.
The resolution also calls for companies to train their employees to understand the “major losses and suffering from gambling addiction,” as well as the commission collecting information regarding the impact of sports betting on the mental health and well-being of college athletes in Pennsylvania.
As part of the study, instances of harassment, coercion, or retaliation by bettors will be included.
Khan said many of his constituents and fellow lawmakers have raised concerns about the unwanted effects of the rapid proliferation of sports gaming.
“Within the first three years of our nation’s legalization of sports betting, gambling addiction in the U.S. increased by 30 percent,” Khan said in a memo to lawmakers. “Sports gambling has features that make it more addictive than other types of gambling, including the illusion of control, and the ability to place in-game bets.”
Criticism But Few Advertising Restrictions
The Pennsylvania House is not the only legislative body in the U.S. exploring advertising and responsible gambling requirements for sports betting.
In Congress, the so-called SAFE Bet Act, reintroduced in the U.S. House and Senate in March, would ban any advertising broadcast between 8am and 10pm, among other issues.
With the SAFE Bet Act sponsored by two Democrats and both chambers of the 119th U.S. Congress controlled by Republicans, the legislation is not expected to garner much support. Still, at least three states in Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York have introduced state-level bills modeled on the legislation.
In New Jersey, Democratic Assemblyman Clinton Calabrese is the primary sponsor of Assembly Bill 5562 that similarly would require regulators to study the “effectiveness of using various words and phrases in advertisements” for iGaming and sports betting to deter illegal or irresponsible gambling, challenge perception of gaming and to encourage the use of responsible gaming tools.
That bill requires the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) to complete the study within a year. Calabrese also wants the DGE to adopt rules to prevent advertising and promotions from being placed near schools and college campuses.
A5562 was approved last week by the Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee.
A more controversial bill, sponsored by Republican Assemblyman Brian Bergen, would prohibit all online advertisements for sports betting in New Jersey.
Assembly Bill 5207 was referred to the Assembly Tourism, Gaming and the Arts Committee in January but has made no further progress in New Jersey, while House Bill 1532, which would have prohibited advertising sports betting entirely in Indiana, never made it out of the House Committee on Public Policy before the legislature adjourned on April 25.
So far, 38 states and the District of Columbia have legalized retail and mobile sports betting, with Missouri becoming the 39th U.S. state to approve sports betting after voters narrowly approved a referendum last November.
The Missouri Gaming Commission on Thursday (May 15) began accepting applications for sports betting licenses, with the market due to launch on December 1.
