Published: June 4, 2019

Pennsylvania casinos ask court to stop or limit iLottery games

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:

  • At least nine iLottery games have the same titles and / or themes as slot machines offered on Pennsylvania casino floors, or online casinos in other states.
  • iLottery games have an average payout of 85 percent, which is the minimum payout percentage for Pennsylvania’s slot machines, whereas the minimum payout percentage for traditional lottery games is 40 percent.
  • Some of the games are offered in nickel or dime denominations that are typical for casinos but not any other Lottery products.
  • The state Department of Revenue, which oversees the Lottery, required that its game supplier agree not to sell the same games to Pennsylvania casinos, effectively admitting iLottery games are, in fact, casino games that would otherwise be sold to and offered by casino operators.
  • At least 22 of the iLottery games are certified for compliance with casino gaming standards in other jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom’s Gambling Commission and New Jersey’s Internet and Mobile Gaming regulations.

“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.

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/06/with-internet-poker-slots-and-other-games-coming-this-summer-pennsylvania-casinos-ask-court-to-stop-or-limit-ilottery-games.html

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