CAMBRIA COUNTY, Pa (WJAC) — With less than two weeks to go before Skill Games could become illegal in Pennsylvania, some local businesses are already losing access to the machines that have brought in extra revenue.
The deadline the Pennsylvania Supreme Court gave lawmakers to regulate skill games is October 13th, and Pennsylvania State Police has said Skill machines will be removed from establishments if the deadline is not met.
In Cambria County, Bigdogz Grill in Stonycreek Township has already had its machines shut off.
Owner Michael Ziants said the company that operates and maintains the machines for him disabled them Wednesday and is making rounds to do the same at every place across the state that operates through that company. The five Skill games machines are still sitting around the bar area at Bigdogz, but they no longer operate, and Ziants referred to them as “just fancy boxes sitting there” now that the company has made them inoperable.
He said skill games helped many businesses survive COVID and have provided extra income to help them run smoothly since.
Ziants said Bigdogz expects to feel the impact, and he expects many other bars will too, especially smaller ones.
“With our location here, here at Big Dogs, we’ll be okay to an extent. We will definitely see a downturn in business I expect because we’re missing a lot of people that come here that do play on a daily basis,” Ziants said.
On the legislative front, Representative Dallas Kephart, who is on the House Gaming Oversight Committee and represents parts of Cambria and Clearfield Counties, said it seems very unlikely something will get done before the Oct. 13 deadline. Kephart said there has not been any movement on any of the several bills proposed so far, and the gaming committee does not currently have any meetings scheduled before the deadline.
Both the Pennsylvania House and Senate are in session next Monday through Wednesday, the final session days before the deadline.
Many business owners say they would like to see an agreement reached because Skill Games have become an important part of their operations.