The machines are currently unregulated and the source of heated debate heading into November’s election.
In June, a State Supreme Court ruling in Pennsylvania classified skill games as illegal slot machines. The ruling gave the state legislature 120 days to pass legislation to regulate the machines, but that deadline has since passed. By October 13, businesses had to remove skill games.
Skill games have been in Pennsylvania businesses since 2013. In an interview, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said that there are approximately 70,000 skill game machines across the Commonwealth today.
In a recent debate, gubernatorial candidates Josh Shapiro (D-incumbent) and Stacy Garrity (R) discussed skill games and their plans to regulate them.
Garrity said she will set a flat $500 per month tax on each game, which she estimated could raise $300 million in state revenue each year.
Shapiro said that, while he could call a special session, Senate Republican leadership have failed to vote on the issue. He has previously said he supports a tax on gross revenue that is aligned with taxes on casinos.
“The House of Representatives has supported my plan. The Senate of Pennsylvania, led by Republicans, has refused to bring it up. Lawmakers need to come back to Harrisburg. They need to stop campaigning and start focusing on their work, and they need to get this bill to my desk,” Shapiro said at the debate.
At a recent event in Green Tree Borough in Pittsburgh, Garrity visited with skill game operators and discussed the issue.
The skill game operators own bars, gas stations, and convenience stores. They said their businesses are suffering since the machines have been banned in the state.
“I have employees crying to me, and it makes me emotional,” said Kish Patel, the owner of 20 gas stations and convenience stores in the western part of the state. “I love these people. These people are my family.”
He said that he will need to lay off employees with the loss of skill game revenue in his stores. The machines generated hundreds of thousands of dollars for his businesses, Patel said at the event.
“[Josh Shapiro] sold you out. He had years to get this fixed,” Garrity told the crowd at the event.
“I’m backing a flat rate: 50,000 machines, $500 per month. That brings in $300 million in revenue to the Commonwealth,” Garrity told the media in a recent interview.
“A real leader doesn’t sit back and say, ‘l’m waiting for a bill to come to my desk’ when they know the deadline is in a week and that’s what Josh Shapiro said at the debate. A real leader rolls up their sleeves, they solve issues, and they get the stakeholders around the table,” Garrity said.
Under current rules in Pennsylvania, only licensed casinos and qualifying licensed truck stop establishments are permitted to operate skill games.
Following the ban, anyone caught operating an unauthorized skill game machine faces a first-degree misdemeanor charge. The charge carries penalties of up to five years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine.
