The clock is winding down for skill games and the legislators trying to regulate them. In the next few weeks, major decisions will be made on the fate of these popular, but currently illegal, slot machine-like games.
A common sight in gas stations, cigar shops and taverns across Pennsylvania, skill games are machines where players insert money to play various games that claim to test the players’ hand-eye coordination, memory and strategic thinking. This test of skill, according to proponents of skill games, is what separates skill games from the machines in casinos, which are entirely based on luck.
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania found otherwise. The justices determined that skill games meet every component of the definition of a slot machine and, despite the claims of their backers, are almost entirely dependent on luck for a payout. Any elements of real skill are negligible to whether players actually get a reward.
Skill games, therefore, are nothing more than gambling devices, and gambling devices must be properly licensed and located in casinos to be legal. Since skill games are neither licensed nor located in casinos, they are illegal per the court and are subject to seizure.
However, the court prevented the Pennsylvania State Police from taking action against the illegal devices for 120 days. This was to allow the legislators of Pennsylvania’s General Assembly to pass a law legalizing them if they wanted. The 120-day limit expires on Oct. 13.
But why would the General Assembly want to legalize them at all? The reason is tax revenue. There are over 70,000 skill game machines in Pennsylvania, and they make billions of dollars every year. Taxing that income could make the commonwealth of Pennsylvania a great deal of money, which is very enticing to the politicians in Harrisburg.
But that brings many questions about how much to tax the machines, and what to do with the money.
The Republicans who control the Pennsylvania state Senate have not been able to come to an agreement with the Democrats who control the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives. While Democrats favor using potential skill game tax money for one solitary purpose, funding public transit in the state, Republicans have indicated a preference for simply adding the money to the General Fund, the massive pool of all tax money collected by the state.
When the General Assembly debated and passed the state budget earlier this summer, the issue of skill games went largely untouched. Since the budget was passed in early July, the legislators have mostly been away from Harrisburg to focus on their reelection campaigns. They are scheduled to return to the Capitol on Sept. 28, giving them about two weeks to come to an agreement on legalizing and taxing the machines before the Oct. 13 deadline.
Both parties agree they should do something about skill games, as opposed to letting the deadline pass and subjecting the machines to statewide seizure. But not everyone is optimistic that the legislators can come to an agreement in such a short amount of time. If an agreement seems too unlikely, the General Assembly can extend the Oct. 13 deadline to give themselves more time.
Unless that happens, proponents and opponents of skill games will be anxiously waiting to see what Harrisburg can put together before this clock on gambling runs out.
