Skill Games: Three Views of the Crackdown
Monroe UnfilteredSkill games, the slot machine look-alikes in gas stations, bars and social clubs, are now illegal in Pennsylvania outside licensed casinos and truck stops, and State Police enforcement began Wednesday (Oct. 14). We told you the deadline was coming on Tuesday (Oct. 13), and about the governor’s race fight over them last Thursday (Oct. 8). Today we look at it from every side, because depending on where you stand, this looks very different.
If You Run a Casino. Imagine you operate a casino. Your costs are enormous. When COVID shut the doors in 2020, the bills kept coming with no customers to pay them. Everyone agrees gambling carries costs for society, and the price of your license is a heavy tax. The state charges casino slot machines about 52 percent, according to WVIA. Then skill games show up in gas stations and bars. They look and play a lot like your slots, they cost far less to run, and they have gone untaxed, according to LancasterOnline. You would probably say that is not fair.
If You Run a Bar, a Store or a Club. Now imagine you own a bar, a convenience store or a lodge. Like everyone else, you have been hit by inflation, higher delivery fees and rising costs across the board, and everyone tells you not to pass it all along to your customers. Skill games were a lifeline. They were pennies from heaven that helped offset the lost profits. WFMZ reported Tuesday (Oct. 13) that one West Easton social club says it donates more than $6,000 a year to the community from its machines. For a place like that, the machines were not a luxury. They helped keep the lights on.
If You Are in Harrisburg. Finally, the lawmakers. They could not agree on how to tax and regulate skill games before the deadline, so the deadline passed and State Police are now enforcing the ban. Lawmakers return Monday (Oct. 19), but only five voting days remain in the two-year session, according to WVIA, and the big disagreement is still unresolved. Gov. Josh Shapiro wants a rate close to the 52 percent casino slot tax. Treasurer Stacy Garrity, his opponent in the Nov. 3 governor’s race, favors a $500 monthly fee per machine for small clubs. A deal could still make the machines legal again, but the clock is ticking. And with no deal in place and these machines slotted for removal, we the taxpayers give up a potential source of new revenue to offset our already sky-high taxes. The Inquirer reports that legalizing and taxing the machines could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars.
So Who Comes Out Ahead? At the end of the day, if you run a casino, you are probably pretty happy. A competitor that played by different rules is gone. But what about everyone else? The bar owner loses a source of income that was helping cover rising costs. The club that donated thousands to the community loses that money too. And the state still has no agreement on a tax, so the question that started all of this is unanswered. Whether the machines come back, legal and taxed, now depends on a Legislature with five voting days left.
What State Police Are Doing. State Police have signed agreements with several operators and distributors, according to WHP/CBS 21. The companies had to make their machines inoperable starting Wednesday, remove them on a rolling schedule, give State Police a full list of where the machines are and send weekly updates. Any machine not removed on schedule is forfeited to State Police, and seizures are on hold until each company’s timeline runs out. Agreements with other distributors are still pending. WVIA reports some operators can leave disabled machines in place while they are removed, and that one supplier, DeLeo Games, has until Wednesday, Nov. 4, to finish.
What It Means Around Here. The state law covers Monroe County like everywhere else, but we have not found a Monroe County bar, club or fire company that has confirmed it pulled its machines. In Pocono Summit, Pocono Play, at 2657 Route 940, listed skill games among the amenities of its party space in an Oct. 5 Facebook post, and we have not confirmed whether it has removed its machines. Nearby, WFMZ reported that a Lehigh Valley operator was pulling about 300 machines from venues including Salisbury Fire Hall. If you run or belong to a Monroe County club, fire company or bar that had machines, email me at busby.ed@gmail.com and tell me what happened.
A business that keeps operating the machines could face seizure of the machines and the money in them, criminal charges and citations against its liquor license, according to City & State Pennsylvania.
What’s Next. If nothing passes, the unfinished business starts over in January unless a special session is called.
