{"id":220560,"date":"2026-06-16T16:42:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/220560\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T16:42:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T16:42:22","slug":"lawmakers-industry-react-to-pennsylvania-supreme-court-skill-games-ruling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/220560\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawmakers, industry react to Pennsylvania Supreme Court skill games ruling"},"content":{"rendered":"

(WHTM) \u2014 The Pennsylvania Supreme Court answered a years-long question over the legality of so-called skill games in the state, ruling the devices are slot machines<\/a> subject to existing gaming and criminal laws.<\/p>\n

Pace-O-Matic, which manufactures many of the state\u2019s skill game machines, called the ruling disappointing, writing that it \u201cwill have far-reaching consequences, with more than 10,000 Pennsylvania small businesses and fraternal clubs becoming the real victims.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Georgia-based company often frames regulations it dislikes as an infliction to these businesses. In its statement, it backed bills that would tax the games at an industry-friendly rate.<\/p>\n

While the court\u2019s ruling effectively criminalizes unlicensed operators of the machines, it also gave a 120-day grace period for enforcement, buying lawmakers time to figure out a policy answer to the 70,000 skill game machines in service across the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe proliferation of skill games is a matter of public safety which must be addressed, and given the timing of this decision, we believe gaming reform is a critical piece of resolving this year\u2019s budget,\u201d said Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward (R) and Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R) in a joint statement on Monday shortly after the ruling.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania\u2019s structural deficit nears $5 billion; the state could generate new revenue by regulating the games, the lawmakers said in the statement.<\/p>\n

Exactly what that looks like will be up for debate in Harrisburg as the budget deadline approaches in 15 days. The Republican leaders pointed to a gaming reform bill they introduced last year that would establish licensing guidelines for the machines as a starting point.<\/p>\n

Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), who has pitched regulating and taxing skill games<\/a> to fund his $53 billion budget proposal, had not yet commented on the court\u2019s ruling as of Monday evening.<\/p>\n

Shapiro\u2019s $53B budget would lead to higher taxes, independent agency warns <\/a><\/p>\n

Attorney General Dave Sunday appeared to put pressure on lawmakers in his statement after the ruling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese machines operate as gambling devices and cannot legally exist without the same oversight, regulation and accountability as other forms of legalized gaming in the Commonwealth,\u201d Sunday said. \u201cPennsylvanians deserve protections that ensure games are fair, transparent and operated within the bounds of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC27. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(WHTM) \u2014 The Pennsylvania Supreme Court answered a years-long question over the legality of so-called skill games in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,8109,23823,1979,34280],"class_list":["post-220560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-pennsylvania-supreme-court","tag-ruling","tag-skill-games","tag-slot-machines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}