Esports May Be Coming to Pennsylvania as Lawmakers Make Another Push

Esports are gaining momentum in the United States and worldwide. As Riot Games, the world’s largest publisher of competitive games, including Teamfight Tactics, Valorant, and League of Legends, announced that it will allow official professional teams to sign sponsorship deals with gambling companies, so are lawmakers trying to not fall behind.

Esports Betting Back on the Table in Pennsylvania

In Pennsylvania, Rep. Ed Neilson has introduced a new bill that would seek to achieve just that and legalize esports betting in the Keystone State.

Rep. Neilson has been a long-standing friend of the esports vertical, and in particular of betting, even if the actual revenue and profit generated by this segment remains comparatively small to other, more important verticals such as traditional sports wagering, and especially iCasino.

The lawmaker last tried to push a similar bill in 2023, but his efforts mostly fell flat due to the novelty of the proposition and a lack of comprehension on why betting on video games is a legitimate business.

Nevertheless, HB 1636 now seeks to change that and ensure that the law properly reflects reality. Esports players can be as young as 13, which means that people could be betting on adolescents competing in video games if the bill passes.

Rep. Neilson defines esports as: “An organized competition involving video games in which players compete against each other, individually or as teams, and the dominant element in determining the results is the relative skill of the players.”

PGCB Needs to Be Tasked with Overseeing This Sector

The bill, though, attempts to expand on the definition of what may be bet on – and it’s not just sports, it seems, as it also mentions “any other competition or event” that is approved by a gambling regulator to be bet on. This means that Pennsylvania could potentially see wagering on a wider array of events if only the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) allows it.

According to Rep. Neilson, the PGCB needs to be tasked with overseeing esports betting, as the vertical is massively popular and it is already gaining substantial traction – something that needs to be addressed, the lawmaker argues.