Pennsylvania Reps. Tarik Khan and Jamie Flick have introduced bipartisan legislation that would bar microbets, restrict VIP and loyalty programmes, and impose new limits on how online-gambling customers fund and use their accounts. House Bill 2879 was referred to the House Gaming Oversight Committee on Oct. 21.
The proposal would ban live wagers on the outcome of a single play during a game, as well as VIP or loyalty programmes that assign hosts or reward players for increased betting, deposits or losses. It would also prohibit operators from accepting credit-card funding for wagers, directly or indirectly. The bill would not prohibit recreational online gambling generally.
Under the measure, operators could accept no more than two deposits a day from an individual. They would have to conduct an affordability check before taking more than $5,000 in deposits over 180 days, while customers would be required to set daily and monthly loss limits. Players aged 21 to 25 would face lower loss caps, and a default two-hour play limit would apply in each 24-hour period.
HB 2879 would further restrict advertising aimed at minors and young adults, ban sign-up and deposit bonuses, and prohibit autoplay features. It would bar the use of artificial intelligence to target promotions at people based on their losses or risk of problem gambling.
A 0.75% assessment on online-gaming and sports-betting revenue would finance prevention, treatment and research. The Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs would oversee the assessment and take on additional responsibilities under the proposal’s public-health approach.
The legislation follows a statewide study ordered through a 2025 House resolution introduced by Khan, which passed 189-14. The Joint State Government Commission released its report in July, examining problem-gambling behaviours, children’s exposure to gambling advertising and measures to mitigate harm. Its recommendations addressed credit-card payments, limits on play, advertising, in-game betting and VIP programmes.
The study found that 5.7% of online sports bettors accounted for 80% of gambling expenditure. It also found that, at one sportsbook, 0.5% of customers generated more than 70% of VIP-programme revenue in 2019 and 2020.
Khan and Flick are members of Pennsylvania’s new bipartisan Problem Gambling Caucus, which was launched on the same day as the bill was filed. As reported earlier this week, the caucus plans to examine advertising exposure, public education and consumer safeguards as online betting becomes more readily available.
The proposal comes against a backdrop of rising regulated-gambling revenue. Pennsylvania’s combined gaming revenue reached a record $6.8 billion in 2025, up 10.74% from the year before, according to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. iGaming revenue rose 27.22% to about $2.8 billion, while sports-wagering revenue increased 17.97% to about $602.5 million.
A 2025 Pennsylvania Interactive Gaming Assessment, based on surveys of more than 3,500 residents, estimated that up to 30% of adults had participated in some form of online gambling during the preceding year, compared with 20% in the 2024 assessment. More than half of calls to the state’s 1-800-GAMBLER hotline were related to problematic online gambling.
