LEHIGH VALLEY EXPRESS-TIMES Editorial: … New Jersey just jumped into online betting two months ago, joining Nevada and Delaware in allowing people to wager from the comfort of a home computer or smartphone. New Jersey is anticipating taxes based on $300 to $500 million in online betting during the inaugural year, and it’s looking to enact agreements with other states to allow wagering across state lines…
Pennsylvania, now the second-most-profitable casino state after Nevada, is taking a serious look, too. The budget proposal released by Gov. Tom Corbett this week envisions only one new form of gambling — keno — but state Senate President Pro Tem Joe Scarnati is backing a study to scope out online gambling…
Pennsylvania should hold off — partly because Congress is considering banning or federally authorizing online gambling, but also because there are potentially dire questions in extending casino-type gambling to everyone’s home and person. The most obvious is that online gambling makes it easier for novices to become problem gamblers, to tap out a bank account, and for addicts to relapse. There’s a world of difference between traveling to a casino and simply logging on… (more)
