Pennsylvania Credit Card gambling could soon be banned if lawmaker Senator Wayne D. Fontana has his way as he looks to ban the payment method.
Pennsylvania Credit Card Gambling faces ban
A huge step could be taken in Pennsylvania in relation to gambling, as a lawmaker is hoping to introduce legislation that stops credit cards being used to fund sports betting, iLottery, online casino activities and daily fantasy contests.
Senator Wayne D. Fontana has issued his claim to his fellow colleagues in the Pennsylvania Senate and is aiming to implement a rule that excludes credit cards for bettors within PA.
His bill has been made as gambling issues, in both online gaming and sports betting, looks to be increasing in Pennsylvania over recent times.
A document from Penn State’s 2022 Online Gaming report showed that over 36% of online gaming bettors had at least one gambling issue – a report which had the backing of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board and Department of Drug and Alcohol problems.
This is not the only reason for the lawmakers bill, as the average credit balance in Pennsylvania is now over five and half thousand dollars.
Fontana has brought this to the attention of Pennsylvania’s Senate during National Gambling Awareness Month, which was created to help those with issues and offer support.
Pennsylvania would not be the first state to exclude credit cards from gambling funding, as Iowa, Massachusetts and Tennessee have already implemented this method.
Iowa voted to prohibit credit cards in 2020 for sports betting and this was an additional step following their decision to do the same for lottery tickets.
Senator Tony Bisignano took a firm stance on this, similar to Fontano’s position in Pennsylvania, and was very vocal about the issue.
Bisignano said: “If you want you lose your paycheck, that’s fine. I don’t know how long you get away with that from your family, but with a credit card, you can run a debt that can’t possibly be paid.”
The blueprint for Pennsylvania is there, as Iowa gambling regulators have dished out a host of fines to various betting operators for not following the credit card exclusion rule – totaling up to $200,000.
Tennessee is another state that has made the decision to stop the use of credit cards, alongside Massachusetts who took action in March last year.
However, over 200 residents in Massachusetts were revealed to have used credit cards to fund their bets with DraftKings – exceeding $80,000 in bets.
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