Skill Games Go Dark Tomorrow

The slot machine look-alikes found in gas stations, bars, restaurants and social clubs become illegal across Pennsylvania on Wednesday (Oct. 14), after the state Supreme Court on Friday (Oct. 9) turned down several lawmakers’ request for more time to regulate them, according to the Pocono Record and USA TODAY Network. As we told you in our Sept. 24 edition, the court ruled in June that the machines are slot machines under the state Gaming Act, which limits them to the state’s licensed casinos, and gave the Legislature through today to write rules. Lawmakers had four months to do their homework and, like the kid who shows up asking for more time, got a firm no. No law passed. State police have told businesses to remove their machines, and unplugging them or putting them in storage is not enough. After the deadline, law enforcement can seize machines and the money inside, file criminal charges and cite liquor licenses, which can bring a fine or a suspension. Any Monroe County business that still has one faces the same deadline. Each candidate for governor floated a different tax on the machines, as we covered in our Oct. 8 debate recap, but nothing was in place in time. State police have a compliance page for businesses at pa.gov/psp/skillgames.