MERCER COUNTY, Pa. (WKBN) – The clock on skill games in Pennsylvania has just about run out.<\/p>\n
By midnight Tuesday, every bar, gas station and private club must remove them from their establishment.<\/p>\n
They look at the wall and start walking toward it,” John Donner, quartermaster of VFW 6166, said. “But there’s nothing for them there.”<\/p>\n
In June, the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court ruled that skill games are slot machines– giving state lawmakers until Oct. 13 to pass a bill allowing them outside of casinos.<\/p>\n
And that deadline is here.<\/p>\n
“They couldn’t agree to the terms for an extension, you know, or… legislation,” Brent Thompson, post commander of Mercer VFW Post 6345. “We didn’t get the outcome we were hoping for.”<\/p>\n
Thompson says the machines have been a big part of their revenue for the past 8 years.<\/p>\n
Now, they’re all gone.<\/p>\n
“Friday, one came and removed the motherboards out of the things so they were deemed inoperable,” Thompson added. “Took all the money out of the kiosk, and they were just removed about an hour ago. And our other vendor, they were here this morning, and they just, they came and picked them up.”<\/p>\n
“One of the companies picked theirs up about 10 days ago, and the other ones came today for theirs,” Donner added.<\/p>\n
Donner says they’ve had fewer people coming in since the removal.<\/p>\n
“We’re already feeling the pinch, but it’s going to be it’s just going to get magnified,” he said.<\/p>\n
According to Pennsylvania State Police, troopers may take enforcement action against businesses possessing these machines after Tuesday.<\/p>\n
They were a lifeline for not only us but many clubs, not just veterans clubs, civic clubs, you know,” Thompson said. “And it’s a bummer. It’s a bummer to see it go.”<\/p>\n