Several Proposed Changes to Pennsylvania Sports Betting

Pennsylvania government commission is advocating for a crackdown on sports betting

A 126-page study on sports betting is the creation of Pennsylvania's Joint State Government Commission. Their findings went public earlier this month. The recommendations from this bipartisan commission for changes to the state's sports betting regulations are far-reaching.

Most of the recommended changes relate to the growing concern about gambling addiction that seems to be accompanying the widespread growth of sports betting across the USA.

“The scope of the problem is worse than we thought,” State Rep. Tarik Khan told the Philadelphia Inquirer. Khan, a Democrat from Philadelphia, was the one who introduced the resolution authorizing the commission's research.

He points to surveys that are part of the commission's study as supportive to his thesis. One survey showed that 48% of men ages 18 to 49 have an account with at least one online sportsbook. Another displayed that 52% of bettors admitted to wagering increasing amounts of money after suffering betting losses.

Khan indicated that a bill that would place prohibitions on microbetting and other sports betting products that are thought to be amplifying gambling addiction issues is currently being drafted.

A Microbetting ban is one of many proposed changes in Pennsylvania

Microbetting is extreme prop betting. You are wagering on minute moments in a game, such as whether the next pitch will be a ball or a strike. Industry estimates are that microbetting is so popular that it will grow to be a $14 billion annual business by the end of the decade.

Along with a complete ban on microbetting, several other measures thought to be preventative for problem gamblers are among the suggestions in the commission's findings. It would prohibit customers from using credit cards to fund their sports betting accounts. Mandating that bettors limit the time they are on a sports betting site is another recommendation. Placing limits on how often a bettor can deposit to their account is another possibility.

For sports betting operators, the commission is recommending a prohibition on them sending promotional offers to a customer who is logged out of their account. They would also be forbidden to use artificial intelligence to create individualized promotional offers.

Another recommended change would see gambling advertisements banned from public university campuses.

An industry lobby group is opposing these changes

The Sports Betting Alliance (SBA), a lobby group representing five of the biggest online sportsbooks in the US market, is emphatic in its opposition to the proposed changes to Pennsylvania sports betting.

Joe Maloney is president of the SBA. He argues that Pennsylvania lawmakers are seeking solutions for a problem that is very minor in nature.

“I’m just not sure that something as proscriptive as banning that market achieves what is the stated endgame?” Maloney told the Inquirer about the proposed microbetting ban. “I’m not entirely sure what the problem is that they’re trying to solve.”

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