Pennsylvania\u2019s online casinos need new regulations that would transform how they are allowed to operate, according to a state report on options to address what some mental health experts are calling \u201can urgent and escalating public health challenge.\u201d <\/p>\n
But at the heart of a new state report on gambling addiction is a choice that isn\u2019t resolved: Should Pennsylvania address the problem quickly and risk denting the gambling industry\u2019s revenue, or study it more carefully and issue targeted changes more slowly?<\/p>\n
The report Pennsylvania\u2019s bipartisan Joint State Government Commission released on Monday<\/a> says the commonwealth could address gambling addiction quickly by instituting a number of changes, including:<\/p>\n 1. Making it illegal to gamble with a credit card<\/p>\n 2. Requiring gamblers to place self-imposed limits on their betting<\/p>\n 3. Creating new restrictions on advertisements.<\/p>\n The legalization of online casinos in Pennsylvania in 2017 has led to the creation of the largest online gambling market in the country. The commonwealth\u2019s $7.7 billion in total gambling profits in 2025<\/a> now rivals all of the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip and its profits are growing 10 times as fast as Nevada\u2019s. <\/p>\n Pittsburgh is the fifth-largest market for gambling advertisements in the country, according to one recent report<\/a>; Philadelphia is first. <\/p>\n The widespread availability of online casinos has created a surge in the number of Pennsylvanians banning themselves from casinos, a potential reflection of the financial and emotional fallout of a gambling disorder. Pennsylvanians are at least twice as likely to suffer from a gambling addiction as the country as a whole, according to the first study estimating its extent this year<\/a>. <\/p>\n The joint commission report, written by staff and overseen by Ronald Grenoble, the commission\u2019s assistant counsel, cites a number of studies showing that gambling addiction is likely increasing credit problems, spurring domestic violence, provoking harassment of Pennsylvania\u2019s college athletes and, in some cases, leading to suicide.<\/p>\n A public health issue<\/p>\n The Pennsylvania Psychiatric Society and the Pennsylvania Society of Addiction Medicine issued a joint statement this week, pointing out that the biggest risks may still be ahead: More than 1 in 4 Pennsylvanians are estimated to be at risk of developing a gambling addiction. <\/p>\n Kavita Fischer, a Pittsburgh-area psychiatrist and the past president of the psychiatric society<\/a>, said she was pleased with the recommendations, which mirror some of the society\u2019s own.<\/p>\n \u201cThe report made it clear that gambling is not a personal failing, it\u2019s a public health issue and the recommendations really reflect that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Fischer has become one of Pennsylvania\u2019s leading proponents of addressing the harms of gambling addiction, after she fell into six-figure debt after a year of gambling on her phone<\/a>, following a divorce. Fischer has described how online casinos targeted her with VIP perks to keep her gambling even after she tried to stop.<\/p>\n If the new regulations are adopted, including a proposal to limit VIP programs, Fischer said, many of the harms she faced would likely have been prevented.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n Sign up for Morning Wire: \u201cI had so many quit dates,\u201d she said. \u201cImagine if you were trying to quit drinking and someone kept leaving alcohol at your doorstep and then left coupons for alcohol at your doorstep. That is what is the predatory part of all of this.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, the recommendations in the report could face long odds of passing in the divided legislature of a state that receives billions of dollars in tax revenue from casinos and where casinos and other gambling interests have been spending millions<\/a> to lobby officials. <\/p>\n The American Gaming Commission did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for BetRivers, which operates the online casino associated with Three Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said they had just received the report and were looking it over.<\/p>\n Profits and precision vs speed and harm reduction<\/p>\n The new report lays out the total economic benefits of online gambling but doesn\u2019t cite any estimates of the total social costs. \u201cThere is no denying that the revenue from online gambling and sports betting can be economically beneficial overall for the states where iGaming is legal,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n The authors of the report found only three credible estimates of how much of the gambling industry\u2019s profits may be coming from people with a gambling disorder. One report, in Connecticut, shows just 5% of gamblers lead to 75% of casino profits. Another study of the internal financial documents of the gambling company PointsBet showed that just 0.5% of gamblers were responsible for more than 70% of the company\u2019s profits. And a large study of gamblers in Great Britain showed 5% of gamblers are responsible for two-thirds of the profit.<\/p>\n One of the report\u2019s recommendations is to require companies to provide an outside nonprofit agency with anonymized data \u2014 including gender, age, region of residence, frequency of play, length of play, speed of play and amounts wagered \u2014 about each gambler and then allow researchers to find specific ways to identify and stop individuals who may have disorders.<\/p>\n \u201cThe deliberate measure would use actual player data to generate responses to more precisely protect gamblers while continuing to maximize revenue,\u201d the report states. <\/p>\n Faster measures proposed by the report, its authors note, could diminish revenue. Those include:<\/p>\n 4. Prohibiting companies from accepting credit cards, similar to rules for in-person casinos<\/p>\n 5. Requiring gamblers to put limits on how much they are willing to lose and how long they are willing to spend gambling ahead of time rather than allowing gamblers to opt in to these limits<\/p>\n 6. Banning promotions for guests who don\u2019t have an account and banning promotions generated by AI<\/p>\n 7. Banning \u201cin-game\u201d sports gambling that happens in the middle of a contest, rather than before a game starts, and which can lead to compulsive gambling<\/p>\n 8. Banning VIP programs that can offer personalized concierge services and thousands of dollars in incentives that, some reports say, have been used to keep people gambling even after big losses.<\/p>\n Fischer said lawmakers should take immediate action, rather than passing a law that she believes would likely lead to redundant conclusions of the report. \u201cI think it\u2019s just going to waste more time and cause more harm in the meantime,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Gov. Josh Shapiro did not respond to a request for comment. Senate Republican leaders did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n State Sen. Wayne Fontana, D-Brookline, held a hearing in Pittsburgh in May<\/a> about the rising problem of gambling addiction and has proposed two bills to help address the problem, including a bill to bar online casinos from accepting credit cards<\/a>. Fontana said this new report gives his bill extra momentum, as the legislature looks to address how to tax skill games. He said autumn debate of the skills game bill will be a chance to update the commonwealth\u2019s gambling regulations for the smartphone era.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not like we\u2019re shutting down the industry. We\u2019re just trying to help the folks that need help here,\u201d Fontana said. \u201cIs there a trade-off? Sure. There\u2019s going to be a trade-off.\u201d<\/p>\n Proposed rules to limit gambling disorders<\/p>\n Although many of the recommendations in the report would likely require legislative action, the Pennsylvania Gaming Commission has already proposed a series of new rules<\/a> aimed at addressing gambling addiction that are now out for public comment. The director of the board\u2019s Office of Compulsive and Problem Gambling told Pennlive<\/a> that these rules would be the most substantial efforts to address gambling addiction since online casinos were allowed a decade ago.<\/p>\n The proposed rules would require online casinos to offer more options for individuals to set limits on how much they gamble, including limits for how much per day, week or month. They would also be required to offer players the option of suspending their accounts for as long a year. And they would require casinos to file a monthly report with detailed information about how many Pennsylvanians chose to limit their own play or self-exclude entirely, as well as the number of accounts that were closed as a result of problem gambling.<\/p>\n The new rules would also place new limits on gambling advertisements including:<\/p>\n 9. Restricting the number of advertisements, banning excessive \u201csaturation\u201d of ads<\/p>\n 10. Restricting advertising where the majority of the audience is children and requiring advertisers to take additional technological steps to prevent children from accessing their sites<\/p>\n 11. Allowing individuals to opt out of receiving direct marketing materials and to stop marketing to people who have opted out of gambling within five days<\/p>\n 12. Prohibiting advertising to people who have chosen to exclude themselves from casinos<\/p>\n 13. Banning ads that mislead or misrepresent the odds of winning or suggest that their promotions offer \u201cfree\u201d or \u201crisk-free\u201d money. <\/p>\n Monday\u2019s report highlights a number of examples of online promotions that seemingly offer free money to gamblers but, in the fine print, require the gamblers to risk their own money to receive them. <\/p>\n At the heart of Monday\u2019s report is a tacit admission that Pennsylvania\u2019s current approach to gambling addiction, which focuses on trying to get individuals to take personal responsibility for their gambling behavior, isn\u2019t effective for people with gambling disorders. The report cites research that gambling addiction requires a broader, public health approach, like efforts addressing addictive substances such as cigarettes. <\/p>\n New regulations proposed by the Pennsylvania Gaming Commission recommend changing state laws to refer to \u201cgambling disorder\u201d rather than \u201ccompulsive and problem gambling\u201d to reflect changes in the scientific understanding of the problem. The public health approach, the joint commission report notes, is the only way to curb extreme gambling and its association with indebtedness, shame and suicidality.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n This story has been updated to correct the name of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. The story also restores dropped words to clarify a quote from Kavita Fischer to show she was speaking about someone trying to quit drinking.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n
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