Pennsylvania Representatives Sean Dougherty and Jason Ortitay have introduced legislation that would raise the minimum age for paid fantasy sports contests from 18 to 21, while broadening the state’s rules for modern contest formats. The measure has been referred to the Pennsylvania House Gaming Oversight Committee.
The proposal would make paid fantasy sports consistent with the 21-year-old threshold used for other gaming, Dougherty said. It would leave 18-year-olds able to buy lottery tickets, but bar them from paid fantasy contests.
According to Local 21 News, the bill also seeks to distinguish wagering from fantasy sports and to allow licensed Pennsylvania operators to offer player-versus-player contests using multiple scoring systems. Dougherty said the measure was still at an early stage and that questions over enforcement remained unresolved.
The age proposal would change the general rule governing licensed online operators. Pennsylvania regulations currently prohibit people under 18 from entering a fantasy contest through a licensed operator, while requiring users of fantasy-contest terminals at licensed facilities to be at least 21. Operators must verify a participant’s identity, age and location before allowing participation or accepting deposits.
Existing regulations also require prize values to be fixed and disclosed in advance, and require outcomes to reflect participants’ relative knowledge and skill. A contest cannot be based solely on one athlete’s performance in a single real-world event. Licensed operators must offer tools allowing customers to limit account access, deposits, entry fees and the number of contests entered over defined periods.
The legislative push comes as Pennsylvania’s fantasy-sports tax receipts have fallen by more than 34% over the past five years. Dougherty put the decline in fantasy-sports revenue at nearly 35% in recent years, arguing that Pennsylvania risked falling behind states that had expanded their rules.
Lawmakers said 14 states had modernized fantasy-sports laws in recent years, including New York, Massachusetts, Virginia, Arizona, Delaware, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. They also said Illinois and Kentucky passed legislation in 2026 authorizing fantasy-sports participation. Massachusetts recorded about 13% revenue growth in the two years after its expansion, they said, while Arizona reported 47% growth.
Ortitay said Pennsylvania’s rules had not kept pace with the contests now offered elsewhere. In March, he wrote to the State Gaming Control Board urging authorization of fantasy-sports formats already common in other states.
Pennsylvania established its framework under Act 42 of 2017, which authorized Gaming Control Board oversight of new gaming initiatives. The board began applying a 15% tax on adjusted fantasy-sports revenue on April 28, 2018; it is paid monthly to the Department of Revenue for the General Fund. More than 53 million people in the United States played fantasy sports in the past year, primarily through contests built around athlete lineups and competition among participants.
