A new bill introduced in the Pennsylvania Senate aims to prohibit state residents from funding online gambling accounts with credit cards.
Senate Bill 1159 was introduced by Senator Wayne Fontana earlier this month. The bill would ban credit card funding for all online gambling including online casino games, lottery, daily fantasy sports, and sports betting.
“There are more young folks between 18 and 30 gambling online, and they are running it up on their credit cards,” Fontana told local media. “The state is partners with (online gambling companies), and we have an obligation to make sure people do not get addicted if we can help it.”
Earlier this year Fontana introduced a memo to the Senate outlining problem gambling stats in the state. The memo also noted that the average Pennsylvania resident has more than $5,600 in credit card debt.
If Senate Bill 1159 were to pass Pennsylvania would become the fourth state to prohibit credit card funding of online gambling joining Iowa, Massachusetts, and Tennessee. Other online gambling funding methods available in Pennsylvania include cash deposits through PayPal and Venmo, and debit cards.
The bill appears to have support on both sides of the floor. Fontana, a Democrat currently has six co-sponsors of the bill including Republican Senator Lisa Baker. Fontana plans to add more co-sponsors to the bill and attempt to get an initial committee hearing in the coming months.
