Wayne County District Attorney A.G. Howell announced today that the PA State Supreme Court ruled skill games are slot machines subject to state laws. He forwarded the following information:
Law enforcement officials in Northeast Pennsylvania will discuss potential skill games enforcement in the coming weeks and months following a recent state Supreme Court ruling that the game terminals almost omnipresent in bars, convenience stores and other establishments are illegal slot machines.
The high court ruling, which state Attorney General Dave Sunday called a “significant victory for consumers, taxpayers and the rule of law,” means an estimated 70,000 skill games machines that had survived unregulated in a legal gray area are subject to the state’s Gaming Act and Crimes Code. They would become subject to seizure by law enforcement, and their owners and operators subject to potential criminal prosecution, if state lawmakers fail to reach a legislative solution to regulate skill games within the next four months.
The Supreme Court established that four-month period of “safe harbor” by staying its own order for 120 days, giving the General Assembly an opportunity to act while citing the impact the ruling could have on “good-faith participants” in the skill games industry. While law enforcement cannot take “adverse action” against operators during the stay, a relevant section of the Crimes Code prohibits a number of actions involving the operation of slot machines and other gambling devices.
“In the Supreme Court’s majority opinion, they clearly call on the Legislature to … do something, so we’re waiting for that,” Lackawanna County District Attorney Brian Gallagher said in a phone interview. “If that doesn’t happen then (skill games machines) are deemed gambling devices and they can be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law just like any other gambling devices would. We’re certainly waiting to see what will happen, I’m not sure what the Legislature will do, but under this case law we would have the authority and ability to investigate, prosecute and arrest.”
What that enforcement might look like will be a subject of conversation among law enforcement officials here as lawmakers in Harrisburg debate how to regulate and appropriately tax the devices.
“We have a chiefs of police meeting that all the heads of all the departments in Lackawanna County, including the state police, go to, and that’s something we would collectively talk about and decide,” Gallagher said. “I don’t know what it looks like right now.”
He noted that veterans organizations, fraternal clubs and similar entities that benefit from skill games revenue often do good work in the community.
“My fear is the selective enforcement,” he said. “You have to be understanding and … I don’t know what that looks like. I can tell you I’m concerned about it. I hope the Legislature takes some action and we’ll figure it out from there. It’s a fluid situation, right? We’ll be ready when it comes down, but that’s something we have to talk with all law enforcement locally on.”
Also reached by phone, Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce said the Supreme Court ruling “finally puts to bed something that should have been obvious to everyone: that these are slot machines and the rudimentary skill required does not absolve them from regulation.”
“So now if you have these machines after the 120-day period everybody recognizes they’re illegal,” he said. “What the Legislature hopefully will do is figure out a way for them to be regulated and taxed fairly, because a lot of the mom-and-pop establishments survive based on these machines, and now that we have a casino right up the road it’s hard to say gambling is so immoral it can’t be allowed.”
Sanguedolce had not discussed potential future enforcement with other agencies as of Thursday, but said those conversations will occur.
“It’s very manpower-dependent of course, so … this is not high on the list of the crimes that we’re trying to fight when every police department is short manpower, including the state police,” he said. “So we would come up with a plan to advise other agencies how we’re going to work together, what we’re going to target. But once again, I just don’t have a real motivation to try to target VFWs, American Legions — you know, small operations — when we have a casino right up the road.”
Sanguedolce also addressed potential selective-enforcement concerns.
“Not to say nobody would make that claim, but I don’t see that as an issue,” he said. “When LCE (Liquor Control Enforcement) raids a bar they don’t raid every single bar. … If you’re operating a mini-casino and we decide we’re going to target mini-casinos, I guess you could argue that soand-so now also has a machine (and) we should raid them too, but that’s just not how the law works.”
The enforcement question could become moot if the state House and Senate reach agreement on a regulatory framework and resolve the skill games issue legislatively before the four-month window closes. That would likely require some bipartisan compromise on an appropriate tax rate.
Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposal calls for a 52% tax on gross skill game terminal revenues, higher than prior Republican proposals.
On Monday, in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, GOP state Senate leaders issued a statement calling the proliferation of skill games “a matter of public safety which must be addressed” and gaming reform “a critical piece of resolving this year’s budget.”
“In addition, with the fiscal realities facing our Commonwealth, it stands to reason that new revenue from gaming reform should be directed to the general fund, as the Governor proposed in his 2026-27 budget,” the statement continued. “Last year, Senate Republican Leadership introduced a gaming reform bill as a basis for discussion and with the Supreme Court ruling now in hand, we look forward to all parties swiftly engaging in meaningful conversations to resolve this issue.”