The effect of an anisotropic nematic liquid crystal (NLC) defect layer introduced between the polymeric cholesteric liquid crystal (PCLC) layers was discussed. It was found that the modulation of reflectance exceeded the 50% limitation provided by simple cholesteric liquid crystals, photonic bandgap (CLC PBG) due to the birefringence of the defect layer. A sharp defect-mode lasing was observed at the defect mode in the middle of PBG by adjusting the PBG region that coincided with the fluorescent emission band for the guest polymer dye. Analysis suggested that the configuration of a PCLC with a polymer-dye doped anisotropic defect layer was attractive for lasing.