A month from Monday, video betting terminals known as “skill games” will be illegal across Pennsylvania, and law enforcement officials are warning businesses to remove them or face potential criminal charges.

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court in June ruled that the devices – which have sprung up inside Philadelphia’s convenience stores, gas stations and other establishments – are indistinguishable from slot machines and should be subject to the same laws.

The justices placed a four-month pause on their ruling to give businesses time to adapt, but that window is running out.

Pennsylvania State Police, in a Sept. 9 statement, said anyone “possessing, operating and/or maintaining such machines are subject to criminal prosecution and immediate seizure of the machines as of Oct. 14, 2026.”

Licensed casinos and truck stops will be the only establishments permitted to have video gambling terminals, and those devices must be inspected and approved by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, authorities added.

Businesses with the machines should contact their distributors or vendors and coordinate the removal of the devices, PSP said. Unplugging “an otherwise operable machine” is not enough to comply with regulations, according to state police.

PSP encouraged store owners to proactively contact state police if they need help getting rid of skill games.

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office has estimated that 70,000 gaming machines have been installed across the Commonwealth.

City Council has targeted skill games in recent years, with some members arguing that the devices present a public safety issue and prey on vulnerable residents. Mayor Cherelle Parker, in the aftermath of the state Supreme Court decision, characterized the terminals as “predatory.”

“In no way, shape or form do I think these slot machines should be in our neighborhoods already struggling from socio-economic and public safety issues,” she said in a June 16 statement. “If they are going to go anywhere, they should be in private clubs and casinos.”

Proposals to legalize and tax skill games have been repeatedly offered in Harrisburg, though no pieces of legislation have reached the finish line in the politically divided state legislature.

Gaming manufacturers and some business owners have asserted that the revenue from the betting machines is critical to the continued operation of smaller establishments and fraternal clubs.

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Cherelle Parker