There are an estimated 85K unregulated skill games in Pennsylvania - legislators think they should be regulated and taxed
The state’s attorney general has said the games are illegal.
Pennsylvania Skill games, slot-like gaming terminals found in small businesses and social clubs throughout the commonwealth, should be regulated and taxed. That’s according to Republican Senate leaders, who suggest a controlled environment of the controversial gray games would provide consumer protections while also providing a new revenue stream for Harrisburg.
Pennsylvania skill games are expected to again field legislative consideration when the state’s General Assembly convenes later this month for its 2025 session.
The Pennsylvania General Assembly convenes on Monday, Jan. 27. Ahead of its 2025 session, lawmakers have filed memos about matters they believe are most important to consider.
Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R-Westmoreland) and Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana) are two of the most powerful elected officials in Harrisburg. Along with state Sens. Rosemary Brown (R-Lackawanna) and Chris Gebhard (R-Berks), Ward and Pittman wrote their Senate colleagues about why they think skill games should be taxed and regulated.
Without a regulatory structure in place, the commonwealth cannot determine the number of machines that are operating across Pennsylvania, whether appropriate taxes are being remitted, and whether the payouts offered by these machines are fair to the player,” the senators’ memorandum read. “Currently, these devices lack any enforceable age restriction and have no safeguards to prevent or address problem gaming issues and addiction.”
Skill games in Pennsylvania are commonly branded Pennsylvania Skill by a leading manufacturer and distributor of the products. Proponents claim the games have helped countless small businesses fend off inflation, retain employees, and keep costs down for their customers.
Minimal Oversight
The Pennsylvania Republicans say unlike the state’s 17 brick-and-mortar casinos and many truck stops that have slot-like video gaming terminals (VGTs), skill games are often unsupervised, meaning underage people and gambling addicts have free access to the machines. The devices have also been used to launder money, the Republicans contend.
State courts have ruled that skill game outcomes are not fully dependent on chance. That excludes the machines from the state’s Gaming Act, which legalized slot machines in the commonwealth in 2006 and has since been further expanded to include table games, sports betting, and online gambling.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is reviewing whether lower courts erred in concluding that small elements of skill outweigh large elements of chance in being the primary driver of each spin’s result. The state’s attorney general has said the games are illegal.
During his budget address last year, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) suggested taxing skill games at 42%. The governor’s calls to legalize the games failed in the legislature.
Shapiro’s office says the governor will again include tax revenue from the games in his budget speech on Feb. 4.
Much Opposition
Pennsylvania’s legal and highly regulated and taxed commercial gaming industry opposes skill games. The casinos argue the machines cut into their slot revenue and subsequently reduce state tax revenue.
Casinos are also upset that they have paid exorbitant licensing fees for their gaming privileges and share more than half of their net win from slots with the state. The Parx-funded Pennsylvanians Against Gaming Expansion group says its goal is to “eliminate the tens of thousands of unregulated, unsupervised, and untaxed games” that are “magnates for crime,” “offer no protections to prevent underage gaming,” and “drain hundreds of millions in revenue from the Pennsylvania Lottery.”
There are an estimated 85K unregulated skill games in Pennsylvania.
https://www.casino.org/news/pennsylvania-skill-game-machines-garner-support-republicans/