June 15, 2026
Bill honors Ray Mikesell, South Fayette Township man
whose playing habit started at school
HARRISBURG – Rep. Jason Ortitay (R-Allegheny/Washington) has launched laws that may require on-line gaming and sports activities wagering operators to block entry to their platforms from inside Pennsylvania faculties, closing a niche that has allowed college students to gamble in the course of the faculty day.
Currently, Pennsylvania authorizes interactive gaming and sports activities wagering for adults below a licensed and regulated framework. That framework was by no means meant to attain school rooms. However, with a smartphone in practically each scholar’s pocket, the road between a regulated grownup exercise and the college day has blurred. In some instances, minors are utilizing a mother or father’s account and credentials to place bets and play on line casino video games whereas sitting at school.
House Bill 2631 places the duty on licensed operators to use geospatial know-how, the identical sort of location software program they already use to hold playing inside state traces, to draw a digital boundary round faculty property. Inside that boundary, the platforms merely is not going to perform, no matter whose account is getting used.
“Our schools should be a place for learning, not a place to lose your future one bet at a time,” Ortitay mentioned. “The technology to stop this already exists. We are simply asking the operators who profit from gaming to make sure their products cannot be used by a child sitting in a classroom. This is common sense, and it is long overdue.”
Ortitay is introducing the laws in honor of Ray Mikesell, a younger man from South Fayette Township whose battle with playing habit started whereas a scholar. That habit adopted him for years and finally value him his life. His father, Raymond Mikesell Jr., approached Ortitay asking the Commonwealth to act in order that no different household would endure the identical loss.
“If this legislation helps even one person, it is worth it,” Mikesell mentioned. “This is for my son.”
“Ray’s story is one too many families across Pennsylvania know all too well,” Ortitay mentioned. “His father turned his grief into a mission to protect other kids. The least we can do is honor that by getting this done.”
Ortitay developed the laws in coordination with the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, which is supportive of the method. He famous the invoice builds on his lengthy file of client and gaming-related protections, together with his earlier work to consolidate the state’s drawback playing assets right into a single, easy-to-remember helpline, 1-800-GAMBLER.
The invoice now awaits consideration within the House Gaming Oversight Committee.
Representative Jason Ortitay
forty sixth Legislative District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Tracy Polovick
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