Last Wednesday, half of the licensed Pennsylvanian casinos proved that they are willing to do whatever is legally possible to protect their rights after they filed yet another lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Lottery. The state hosts a wide array of gaming offering one of which is the iLottery that has been subject to a ton of criticism in the past few months due to the resemblance of its offerings to slot machine offering typically found in brick-and-mortar casinos.
Seven of the Keystone State’s operators have decided to take up the matter in the state court hoping that lawsuit will see to the end of the online lottery operation. The casinos – Meadows Casino Racetrack Hotel, Parx Casino, Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course, Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino & Racetrack, Stadium Casino, Valley Forge Casino Resort, and Mohegan Sun Pocono – have formed a coalition to pursue the issue following recent finding that both tribal and commercial casino developers have experienced the supposed negative impact of the Lottery’s online games.
In the lawsuits, the casinos explicitly outline their argument that the offerings provided by the recently launched iLottery program resemble traditional casino games to a very great extent.
“All of the iLottery games feature the same user interface as a slot machine, and have the same interactive appearance, feel and play experience that a player would expect from land-based and online slot machines,” the seven casinos wrote in the complaint that was filed in the Commonwealth Court. “These features include graphics, animation, suspenseful music, flashing lights, bells or sounds played when combinations are hit, and similar visual and auditory features.”
This will be the second complaint that the Pennsylvanian casinos are filing against the Lottery – the first yielded a sort of win-win outcome with the most significant development being that the Lottery was forced to change the way it marketed its games. However, the same concerns are still being cited by the casinos and the one they seem to find to be most troubling is the possibility of the state gambling field suffering cannibalization at some point in the near future if nothing changes.
The Pa. Lottery Is Yet to Review the Lawsuit
The iLottery whose most recent offering is being considered by the casinos to be “a direct incursion by the state into the exclusive market of the licensed gaming operators” is reportedly yet to review the lawsuit. As such, not much can be said about their next course of action but this will hopefully change in the near future.
“It is important to note that Act 42 authorized the lottery’s new games, which are part of an effort to continue delivering to our customers games that they want and where they want while generating the additional funds to stabilize the Lottery Fund and provide vital services to older Pennsylvanians,” Gary Miller, the Pennsylvania Lottery’s spokesman said.
