A group of Pennsylvania casinos have asked Commonwealth Court to either stop or significantly curtail the Pennsylvania Lottery’s iLottery games before commercial casino-based internet gambling gets launched next month across the state.
The casinos have requested an injunction that would require the Lottery to stop offering games they feel too closely mimic the poker, slots and other games they were granted the exclusive franchise for in the state’s 2017 gambling expansion law.
The injunction is a bid to accelerate action on a suit that was initially filed last year.
The 2017 law permitted the Lottery to begin offering online games, too.
The goal was to give the Lottery - which funds senior citizen benefits and programs - a way for it to stay on an even competitive footing as other gambling options - new casinos, sports betting, online games - exploded all around it.
But the casinos argue the gambling expansion law contained language stating the iLottery games are supposed to be different from the poker, slots and other casino-style games the casinos have paid millions of dollars for the exclusive right to offer in Pennsylvania.
Instead, the casinos allege that since the iLottery launched in May 2018, they’ve found:
“Pennsylvania casinos are not opposed to iLottery — only simulated, casino-style games,” said David La Torre, a spokesman for the casinos in the case. “In fact, casinos are supportive of the lottery’s mission and provide space for lottery ticket vending machines on their casino floors. Some have become the best-selling outlets of lottery tickets in Pennsylvania.”
The state Department of Revenue says the iLottery play is expected to generate about $30 million in profit in the current fiscal year, or roughly 3 percent of the Lottery’s overall gains for the state.