With casinos in Pennsylvania beginning to pull out slot machines due to what it says is this unregulated competition in the state from skill-based slot machines, Pennsylvania Skill, powered by Pace-O-Matic, has gone in hard on the success of the casino sector.
The casino industry revenue of $500.8m tops the $467m collected last July. One of the highlights of the PGCB July revenue report is that iGaming slot revenue increased by 32.2 per cent.
In a statement ‘congratulating’ the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) and casinos operating in the state on a 7.22 per cent increase in revenue during July 2024 over July 2023, Mike Barley, spokesman for Pennsylvania Skill, said: “We again applaud the casino industry as it continues to break revenue records. These numbers prove once again that skill games are not a threat to casino profits “Sadly, $500.8m a month in revenue is not enough to satisfy the greedy owners of the casino industry. Instead, they spend their time and money fabricating untrue accusations about skill games and trying to harm small business owners, veterans and volunteer organizations who count on legal skill games for critical revenue.”
As the PGCB celebrates yet another big financial win, small businesses, veterans groups, volunteer fire companies and other fraternal clubs across the state also cheer the supplemental revenue they are receiving from skill games, which were ruled legal in a unanimous Commonwealth Court opinion last year.
Mr. Barley added, the wealthy out-of-state and internationally-managed casinos are spending millions to fight the regulation of skill games. He claimed the battle against skill games has ‘more to do with casino owners wanting to increase the money in their pockets than anything related to skill games.’
“Casinos recently filed a lawsuit with the state Supreme Court wanting to stop paying taxes to the state. These same casinos have a fundamental belief that every business that offers an entertainment product — be that a movie theater, bowling alley, lottery ticket, bingo hall, miniature golf, theme park, etc. — is competition for dollars they believe belong to them. It’s a deeply troubling philosophy that is at the center and drives the policy agenda of the commercial gambling industry,” he said.
At the same time, Pennsylvania Skill supports legislation sponsored by Sen. Gene Yaw (SB706) and Rep. Danilo Burgos (HB2075) that will regulate and tax skill games. There is bipartisan backing for the legislation that will put guardrails around skill game operations and provide as much as $250m in skill game tax revenue to the state in the first year of regulation through a commonsense 16 per cent tax. Gov. Josh Shapiro supports regulating and taxing skill games.
Several courts have ruled Pennsylvania Skill games are legal, including the Commonwealth Court in 2023. In addition to providing supplemental income to small businesses, Pennsylvania Skill games are manufactured in Williamsport and 92 per cent of the income they generate stays within the local economy or the state. Pennsylvania Skill also created a charitable arm in 2017 and provides donations to organizations across the Commonwealth.
