{"id":296540,"date":"2026-09-30T00:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T00:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/296540\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T00:48:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T00:48:09","slug":"businesses-starting-to-feel-impact-of-looming-skill-game-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/296540\/","title":{"rendered":"Businesses starting to feel impact of looming \u2018skill game\u2019 deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"

Businesses starting to feel impact of looming \u2018skill game\u2019 deadline<\/p>\n

Skill game machines are beginning to disappear from some Pennsylvania businesses as lawmakers face an Oct. 14 deadline to decide whether to legalize and regulate the devices.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/a>HARRISBURG, Pa. \u2014<\/p>\n

Skill game machines are beginning to disappear from some Pennsylvania businesses as lawmakers face an Oct. 14 deadline to decide whether to legalize and regulate the devices.<\/p>\n

Businesses begin removing skill games<\/p>\n

Only four legislative session days remain before a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling classifying the devices as slot machines takes effect. Without legislative action, possession of the machines could become illegal across the state.<\/p>\n

The machines have already been removed from Vape and Variety Convenience Store, where they once generated revenue and attracted customers who also purchased snacks and drinks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are frustrated about this because it was making money for us, too,\u201d owner Ali Haider Chandio said.<\/p>\n

Chandio said lawmakers should find a way to regulate and tax the machines rather than ban them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is something and people like it and the business owners like it, there should be a way to regulate it, to put a tax on it or do something about it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut they had enough time to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Lawmakers consider last-minute regulations<\/p>\n

Lawmakers are considering last-minute proposals that would tax and regulate skill games. The debate includes questions about where the machines should be permitted and whether convenience stores should be allowed to operate them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Supreme Court said these machines are illegal,\u201d said state Rep. Russ Diamond, R-Lebanon County. \u201cSlot machines need to be regulated just like every other slot machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diamond supports allowing the devices in private social clubs, liquor-licensed restaurants and truck stops that already offer legal gambling.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re concerned about minor children having access to these things,\u201d Diamond said.<\/p>\n

He acknowledged that some businesses and private clubs have invested in the machines but said those operators accepted a risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they did, really, was they made a gamble, and they lost,\u201d Diamond said.<\/p>\n

Attorney general urges machine removal<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday estimated that about 70,000 skill game machines are operating across the state. He called the situation \u201cunprecedented\u201d and urged businesses to begin arranging for the machines\u2019 removal.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to the law, possessing one of the machines in itself would be unlawful,\u201d Sunday said. \u201cUnplugging the machine is not enough. The machine has to be removed from the premises.\u201d<\/p>\n

If lawmakers fail to act before Oct. 14, no Pennsylvania business may be permitted to keep the devices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Businesses starting to feel impact of looming \u2018skill game\u2019 deadline Skill game machines are beginning to disappear from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":296541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[122601,102108,28,8526,30,29,8109,122603,1979,122604,122602],"class_list":["post-296540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-ali-haider-chandio","tag-business-impact","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-attorney-general-dave-sunday","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-pennsylvania-supreme-court","tag-skill-game-deadline","tag-skill-games","tag-state-rep-russ-diamond","tag-vape-and-variety-convenience-store"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296540","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=296540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}