Last week reportedly saw the leader of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board tell state legislators that his body expects to begin accepting the first raft of applications for local online gaming licenses by the middle of next month.

According to a Saturday report from local television broadcaster KYW-TV, Kevin O’Toole (pictured), Executive Director for the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, made the revelation during a March 5 budget hearing after explaining that the regulator was still in the process of drafting temporary rules for Internet gaming.

O’Toole reportedly declared that the start of the first 90-day license application period will ‘probably be in mid-April’ with iGaming suppliers and manufacturers being invited to team up with one of Pennsylvania’s existing land-based operators and ask for permission to offer a range of online casino games including poker to players in the eastern state.

“So that first 90-day period will be mid-April and will go through mid-July,” O’Toole reportedly told legislators in Harrisburg.

The legalization of online gaming for players in ‘The Keystone State’ reportedly came after Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed wide-ranging gaming legislation into law in October in hopes of bringing in more tax revenues to help alleviate a bulging budget deficit. Each iGaming license is purportedly due to cost $10 million while operators are to moreover be required to hand over a portion of their revenues in tax.

Away from online gaming and O’Toole reportedly also told legislators that the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board should be ready to start licensing video gaming terminals for truck stops by the conclusion of 2018 before explaining that demolition work on the site for the coming Live! Hotel and Casino Philadelphia is expected to start in June with construction commencing soon after.