Businesses, veterans organizations, urge lawmakers to regulate skill games before Oct. 13 deadline

DUPONT — Following a state Supreme Court ruling that found skill games are slot machines, small business owners and local nonprofits are calling on lawmakers to regulate the machines before they can no longer legally operate them.

Supporters of skill games, as well as state and county officials, attended a press conference Thursday at the Dupont VFW Post 4909, where several spoke about how businesses, veterans organizations, fire companies, and more, will be crippled financially, or have to close their doors entirely, if the state legislature does not regulate the machines by Oct. 13.

Pace-O-Matic, a major skill games developer and distributor that has supported efforts to regulate the machines in the past, organized the event and presented a $1,000 check to the Dupont VFW at the end.

Advocates at the press conference championed two bills: Senate Bill 1079, sponsored by Sen. Gene Yaw and co-sponsored by Sen. Marty Flynn, Sen. David Argall, and six others; and a companion legislation, House Bill 2213, sponsored by Rep. Danilo Burgos, and co-sponsored by Rep. Eddie Pashinski, Rep. Dane Watro, and 36 others.

The proposed legislation would regulate skill games and place a monthly $500 terminal fee on the games.

Sponsors said it would generate $300 million in tax dollars in the first year of regulation.

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s 2026-27 budget initially included a 52% tax on skill games, but that was ultimately left out of the final budget signed into law on July 11.

“We increased our profits when those skill games caught on,” said Mark Kowalczyk, bar manager at the Polish American Citizens Club. ‘We were able to do so much for the community since that point, along with renovations on the building and parking lot.”

Losing the revenue generated by skill games would put the club “between a rock and a hard place,” Kowalczyk said.

“We don’t know what to do,” he continued.

Skill games in Pennsylvania have long operated in a legal grey area, and there’s been much debate over whether to regulate them or not.

According to previous Times Leader reporting, during a joint project with 28/22 News, Pace-O-Matic has defended the legality of its product in court several times, beginning in 2014.

In 2018, Pace-O-Matic sued the state to get a judgment about whether the games are legal. Commonwealth Court ruled the state’s existing law regulating gaming doesn’t apply to skill games, according to reporting from Spotlight PA.

Additionally, the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas and Commonwealth Court both ruled that the games are skill-based and therefore not subject to regulations for slot machines in a 2019 case, after agents for the Pennsylvania State Police’s Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement seized three skill games from a Dauphin County bar.

However, after hearing both cases, the state Supreme Court ruled back in June that skill games actually were slot machines, the Commonwealth Court’s interpretation of statutes was “deeply flawed,” and the court was “incorrect on both points,” according to reporting form Spotlight PA.

That ruling in June gave the legislature 120 days to come up with regulations, or allow the machines to be subject to seizure by law enforcement.

54 days remain.

Ron Vaccaro, with the Italian American Citizens Club in Plains, said Thursday that skill games, along with better business practices, have allowed the social club to keep its doors open and expand operations.

“We went from probably having six or seven employees to 25 people right now,” he said.

The social club also uses revenue from skill games to give back to the community.

“If they take these machines away from us, we’ll have less money to donate,” he said.

Shapiro’s proposal of 52% tax wasn’t good enough for Vaccaro, and he encouraged people to support Senate Bill 1079 and House Bill 2213 instead.

Kurt Masser, former PA House Rep. and owner of Wayside Inn in Shamokin, echoed previous sentiments, saying skill game revenue has allowed him to give his cooks a six-dollar raise.

“It’s still a struggle to find help, but without those machines, I don’t know where I’d be,” he said.

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