The Pennsylvania Racehorse Gambling and Development Act of 2004 officially legalized slot machines. The law established specific licensing requirements for both manufacturers and operators of slot machines: strict requirements for prospective licensees to prove the background and integrity of their executives and companies.
Those rules also govern the slot machines themselves, which are only approved for sale and operation in the state after they're tested in a lab to ensure fairness. Other rules were put in place requiring slot machines and the locations they operate in to only be accessible to players 21 and older.
In recent years, however, slot machines have spread throughout the state that have not gone through any of the requirements set forth in the law. Their manufacturers and operators claim that they are legal because there is a skill factor that can increase a player's chances of winning.
Tens of thousands of these games have appeared, not just in saloons, VFWs, and fraternal organizations that offer charity gaming, but in a variety of places where gambling was never intended by law.
“Pennsylvania Skill Game Terminals are manufactured right here in Lycoming County and the finished products exist in frat clubs, veterans’ organizations and taverns, as well as other local businesses throughout the state,” Yaw wrote on his site. Web. "Gaming of skill is a part of the small business economy in our state, and it's time we recognized the benefits of this emerging industry and offered regulatory support, so we can ensure it thrives, safely and responsibly."
First, the skill game terminals, branded "Pennsylvania Skill," may be assembled in Pennsylvania, but are manufactured, leased, and sold by a company called Pace-O-Matic, which is based in Georgia and sells the multi-state games.
But another thing that jumps out when reading Yaw's statement is that the games operate out of frat clubs, etc., "as well as other local businesses throughout the state." Those "other local businesses" include mom-and-pop convenience stores, pizza parlors, laundromats, and other small businesses that do not have age-based entry restrictions.
Jeff Morris, Penn Entertainment's vice president of public affairs and government relations, presented a striking slideshow at the recent East Coast Gaming Congress showing children, leaning to reach for buttons, playing what almost everyone would recognize as a machine. slots. These games are being played by children.
Supporters of games of skill repeatedly point to a district court judge's decision that because there is some skill involved in the game, the games do not fall within the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. However, the PGCB appeals that decision, based on Law 42, a 2017 amendment to the gaming law that defines a slot machine as any device “that, by inserting a coin, bill, ticket, token, or similar object into he or upon payment of any consideration... is available to play or operate, which play or operation, whether by reason of skill or application of the element of chance or both, may deliver or entitle the persons playing... to receive cash”, or anything else of value.
The amendment specifically defines games of skill as slot machines, identifying a "hybrid slot machine" as "a slot machine in which a combination of player skill and elements of chance affect the outcome of the game," and a "slot machine of skill". as “a slot machine in which the skill of the player, rather than the element of chance, is the predominant factor affecting the outcome of the game”.
Short version: These games, by law, are slot machines, subject to the gaming law and PGCB regulations.
Regulated slot machine operators will be watching the Pennsylvania General Assembly closely, and hopefully new court decisions will rid the state of these illegal slot machines. As for the VFWs, veterans' groups and fraternal organizations that say they rely on the revenue that gaming generates, they can make just as much revenue, probably more, from regulated slots.
If that's the skill you like, try video poker. That is the regulated game of skill.
