Pennsylvania seeks stricter oversight on prediction markets, youth sports betting

CENTRE COUNTY, Pa (WJAC) — These days, you can literally place a bet on anything. But that is drawing closer scrutiny from gambling regulators.

Casinos, like the new Happy Valley Casino in Centre County, are heavily regulated by the state’s Gaming Control Board.

The board’s executive director, Kevin O’Toole, recently wrote a letter to federal regulators, calling for more oversight on what is known as ‘predication markets,’ which take wagers on practically everything.

One item of concern for the gaming control board is predication markets’ impact on sports betting.

“Sports gambling is big statewide. The reason for that isn’t because of the location of sports book in casinos, and you won’t see one here for example, but it is because you can wager anywhere, within the border of the Commonwealth, on your phone, your iPad or your computer,” explains Doug Harbach with the Pa Gaming Control Board.

The gaming control board is also raising particular concerns about the expansion of prediction markets and the possible impact on college students and younger betters, citing studies showing how it can have adverse effects.

“Our biggest issue at the gaming control board isn’t about underagers getting into casinos, it’s how they are accessing all of these off-shore, illegal sites that don’t have the type of blockages and allow them to do betting. Which candidly, in most cases, they don’t have the money for and get into debt.”

While you have to be 21 or older to get into a casino in Pennsylvania, state lawmakers, just this week, introducing legislation that would ban any insider trading in prediction markets.

https://wjactv.com/news/local/pennsylvania-seeks-stricter-oversight-on-prediction-markets-youth-sports-betting