The National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) will prioritize online casinos during its 2024 Summer Meeting, which starts today in Pittsburgh. However, it isn’t ready to unveil a first draft of its model iGaming legislation as it had originally planned.
During the conference, three panels featuring legislators, regulators, and private industry representatives will discuss the model legislation, which NCLGS hopes will serve as a template for states looking to legalize online casinos in 2025 and beyond. The discussions aim to provide an overview of critical issues such as tax rates and the optimal number of licenses and skins. Also up for discussion is the perennial question of whether online casinos cannibalize retail gambling revenue and, if so, how to mitigate that at the policy level.
The NCLGS is an organization of lawmakers from states with one or more forms of legal gambling. Its focus is on gambling issues, and one of its primary concerns is proper gaming regulation. The organization also educates lawmakers about legal online gambling.
Discussions To Help Create iGaming Legislative Blueprint
During its Winter Meeting in January, NCLGS announced it would form a committee to draft the model gaming legislation. According to NCLGS President Shawn Fluharty, the iGaming Model Legislation Committee has had several virtual meetings to develop a framework based on input from industry experts and state regulators.
At that time, the plan was for the first draft to be finished in time for the Summer Meeting, which will run from July 17 to 20. However, the committee has not yet reached that stage of the process. Instead, the focus at the conference will be soliciting feedback to help improve the draft. Fluharty, a West Virginia delegate, told Matthew Kredell from PlayUSA that he expects to have the draft ready before state legislative sessions resume in the fall and winter.
The NCLGS President added that once ready, the organization could provide a legislative blueprint to help with iGaming expansion. That will be welcome news for many, as online casino legalization has stalled in recent years. The last time a state successfully expanded its gambling options to include iGaming was in 2023, when Rhode Island created a monopoly market for Bally’s. That market opened in March 2024, but no additional states have approved online casinos in 2024.
Other Conference Topics Include Lottery and Skill Games
Discussions at the 2024 Summer Meeting aren’t restricted to iGaming. The future of the lottery is also a hot topic. Over the last few years, states have had much more success authorizing online lotteries than online casinos. In some cases, that hasn’t even required new legislation.
Delegates to the NCLGS meeting will discuss how the lottery will look in the next 10 to 20 years and what opportunities exist. Speakers include representatives from states with online lotteries, like Georgia and New Hampshire, and lottery technology companies, like Scientific Games.
The lottery industry’s focus is on maintaining growth and keeping players engaged. This year’s biggest change is a restructuring of Mega Millions, accompanied by an increase in ticket price from $2 to $5. Lottery officials hope the change will help distinguish the product from the otherwise similar Powerball. The higher price will allow for larger jackpots, automatic Megaplier inclusion, and improved odds.
The ongoing controversy around unregulated skill games is also on the agenda. Many states are struggling to figure out how to deal with the gray market machines, torn between banning them or regulating and taxing them. Even those that have been them—like Virginia and Kentucky—face legal challenges in court or attempts by lawmakers to reverse course and regulate them. In other states, like Pennsylvania, the games continue to operate while lawmakers find themselves divided on how to proceed. In the meantime, lawsuits pertaining to the machines or attempted crackdowns on them have begun to burden the court system. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, for instance, has agreed to hear an appeal from state authorities defending their seizure of the games, which lower courts deemed illegal.
About the Author
