Skill Games Must Come Out Tuesday Unless the Courts Intervene
State Police can start seizing skill game machines Oct. 13. Lawmakers want the Supreme Court to wait until February. What it means for Somerset County businesses.
Skill game machines are due out of Pennsylvania businesses on Tuesday, October 13, and a bipartisan group of state lawmakers has asked the state Supreme Court to push that date back to February 10, 2027. The deadline touches at least one business in Confluence and many more around Somerset County.
Here is how we got here. On June 15, the Supreme Court ruled that skill games are slot machines under state gaming law, no matter how much skill a player brings. The court held off enforcement for 120 days to let the legislature decide whether to license them. An estimated 70,000 of the machines sit in taverns, gas stations and corner stores across the state, and lawmakers have not settled on a bill.
If nothing changes, State Police say they can seize the machines and the money inside them starting October 13, and charge owners who keep them running. Unplugging a machine does not count as removing it. Vendors and distributors who keep servicing machines at unlicensed locations can be charged too. Business owners who need help getting a machine hauled out are told to call the nearest State Police troop, or the liquor control enforcement office if they hold a liquor license.
The petition, led by Sens. Gene Yaw and Anthony Williams, does not claim police cannot enforce the law. It argues that seizing machines weeks before a new law passes would make that law harder to put in place. The proposed bill would charge $500 a month per machine, an estimated $700 million for roads, fire departments and EMS, with age checks and audits. It had not been formally introduced as of this week. Pace-O-Matic, the largest maker, says American Legions, VFWs and volunteer fire companies that host machines could cut staff or close.
The other side of the ledger is who plays. A Gamblers Anonymous spokesperson told Casino.org in February that new members name skill games as their main problem. Penn State research cited there estimates between 2.5 and 6.4 percent of Pennsylvania adults may be problem gamblers, and about 11 percent have played a skill game. Critics, including the Philadelphia Inquirer’s editorial board, say the machines land in poor neighborhoods and small towns and take the most from people who can least spare it.
If gambling is hurting you or someone close to you, the state’s helpline is 1-800-GAMBLER.