Pennsylvania Lawmakers Launch a Problem Gambling Caucus as a Bill to Cap Online Deposits Is Filed

Four legislators from both parties have formed what local broadcasters call Pennsylvania's first caucus on problem gambling, promising "common-sense guardrails" for online betting. Two of them co-sponsor a bill, filed the same day, that would limit players to two deposits a day and ban microbets.

• Senators Joe Picozzi (R-Philadelphia) and Nick Miller (D-Lehigh/Northampton) and Representatives Jamie Flick (R-Lycoming/Union) and Ben Sanchez (D-Montgomery) launched a Problem Gambling Caucus at the Capitol on 21 October, and it will begin meeting in January
• The caucus has not named a chair or endorsed bills as a group, but Picozzi called for deposit and time limits, clearer information on spending and losses, and restrictions on marketing
• The same day, House Bill 2879, co-sponsored by Flick and Sanchez, was referred to the Gaming Oversight Committee; it would cap deposits at two a day, require affordability checks above $5,000 in 180 days and add a 0.75% levy on online gambling revenue for treatment
• The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) reported September gaming revenue of $555.0 million, up 4.07%, with online casino games bringing in $249.3 million
• The launch follows an 18% rise in self-exclusions to 9,677 last fiscal year and comes a week into the State Police's enforcement against illegal skill games

Four Lawmakers From Both Parties Form a Caucus on Problem Gambling

Legislators from both parties and both chambers launched a Problem Gambling Caucus at the Capitol Media Center on Wednesday 21 October, at an event Picozzi's office billed as the "Introduction of the Problem Gambling Caucus". WPMT-TV (FOX43) named Picozzi, Miller, Flick and Sanchez as members and described it as the first caucus in the state legislature focused specifically on problem gambling. iGaming Times found no written release from the members' offices by 22 October, and none of the coverage we read names a chair.

According to FOX43, the caucus will focus on consumer protection, online sports betting, internet casino gaming and mental health, and will include policy experts and people with lived experience. WHTM-TV (ABC27) reported its priorities as keeping children away from gambling, reforming online betting marketing and introducing time and spending limits, with in-game betting also under discussion. It will meet properly when the new session opens in January, and put forward no specific proposals as a caucus, Focus Gaming News reported.

In a video of his remarks posted by his office, Picozzi, the youngest member of the state Senate, said "frictionless" online gambling had touched almost everyone of his generation. He cited a more than twofold rise over 10 years in gambling disorder diagnoses among men aged 18 to 29, and research by Common Sense Media that 36% of boys aged 11 to 17 already gamble. He called for "meaningful deposit and time limits", clear information about spending and losses, and restrictions on marketing, and said protecting consumers was "not anti-business".

Sanchez said gambling "is not an income strategy" and cited a claim that 40% of Gen Z respondents saw sports betting as investing, while Flick said "the drug of choice now just sits right in your pocket", ABC27 reported. Organisers also said Philadelphia ranks first among US media markets for online gambling advertising, FOX43 reported.

Two of the Founders Already Have Bills in Committee

On 21 October, House Bills 2874, 2875 and 2879 were introduced by Representative Tarik Khan, a Philadelphia Democrat, with Flick and Sanchez among the co-sponsors, and referred to the House Gaming Oversight Committee, according to the General Assembly's records. Khan and Flick announced the package in June, framing problem gambling as "a public health issue".

House Bill 2879, the Online Consumer Protection Act, is the most far-reaching. Operators could not accept more than two deposits in 24 hours, or more than $5,000 in 180 days without an affordability assessment under criteria set by the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP). Online casino stakes would be capped at $2 a play for players aged 21 to 25 and $5 for older players, with daily and 30-day loss limits. The bill would ban microbets and push notifications soliciting bets, and add an assessment of 0.75% of gross online casino and online sports wagering revenue, paid into a restricted account of the Compulsive and Problem Gambling Treatment Fund that neither operators nor the board could influence. House Bill 2875 would ban credit card funding of online accounts and House Bill 2874 would bar marketing to self-excluded players; both are companions to Senate bills.

Record Revenue, Rising Exclusions and a Skill Games Crackdown

The PGCB reported on 19 October that September revenue from all forms of gaming was $555,036,870, up 4.07% from a year earlier, generating $242.6 million in tax. Online slots, table games and poker brought in $249.3 million, up 6.8% and about 45% of the total, by iGaming Times' calculation from the board's figures, and sports wagering rose 50.45% to $44.7 million. The state's gaming revenue topped $7 billion in fiscal 2025/26.

The board's Office of Compulsive and Problem Gambling recorded 9,677 self-exclusion enrolments in 2025/26. A Penn State report for DDAP estimated that between 2.5% and 6.4% of Pennsylvanians may be problem gamblers, and said more than half of calls to the 1-800-GAMBLER helpline, run by the Council on Compulsive Gambling of Pennsylvania, relate to online gambling. Its executive director, Josh Ercole, said in a PGCB release in March that calls about young people had increased; the council does not publish call totals on its website.

Since 14 October the Pennsylvania State Police have been enforcing the Supreme Court's ruling that skill games are slot machines, and switched-off machines can still be seized; the force's skill games page gives the public a tip line. Picozzi wrote on 6 October that the games should be regulated and taxed, with part of the revenue, which some estimate at up to $1 billion a year, going to mass transit.

The Caucus Arrives With a Bill Already Attached

This caucus starts with a detailed bill whose sponsors include half its founding members, an obvious text for its January agenda. House Bill 2879 is not modest: two deposits a day, per-play caps of $2 and $5 that echo the online slot stake limits Great Britain introduced in 2025, mandatory loss limits and an end to microbets would change how Pennsylvania's online operators make money. The 0.75% levy would raise roughly $22 million a year on the 2025/26 online casino revenue of $2.93 billion alone, by iGaming Times' calculation, alongside the Gaming Act's existing transfer to the treatment fund of $2 million or 0.2% of slot revenue, whichever is greater. Operators will argue that limits this tight push players offshore; Penn State found more than 10% of Pennsylvania adults already gamble on unregulated sites.

The Calendar Matters More Than the Launch

The bills were filed with less than six weeks of the two-year session left, and bills that do not pass by its end must be reintroduced. The real test is whether the package returns in the 2027 session with support in the Republican-led Senate as well as the House, and whether Gaming Oversight gives it a hearing. A state that took $3.10 billion in gaming taxes and fees last fiscal year has strong reasons to move carefully.

Skill Games Will Test the Caucus's Consistency

Picozzi is co-founding a caucus on gambling harm while urging colleagues to legalise and tax an estimated 70,000 skill games. The positions are not contradictory: regulated machines can carry protections unregulated ones lack, which is the channelisation argument. But unregulated machines sit outside the board's four self-exclusion lists, and the caucus's credibility will depend on applying the same harm lens to retail machines as to phones.

Pennsylvania now has a bipartisan group of lawmakers arguing that online gambling needs guardrails, and a bill that spells out what those guardrails would be. Whether either survives the end of the session will show how far Harrisburg is willing to trade revenue for protection.