Bad news, PA betting baddies. 💅🃏 If you were hitting up your local bar or corner store to play your fave slot-style game machine, you may have noticed it’s suddenly M.I.A. It’s all thanks to a brand new ban. 🎰❌
The change happened uber fast, and it’s leaving some small businesses and community groups scrambling. 🥴🍳 It also means the state walked away from a potential pile of tax money. Here’s the full story. 👇
Here’s Five Fast Facts on PA’s skill games ban:
- 🗨️ Ban Banter - As of midnight on October 14, skill games are illegal in PA unless they’re inside a licensed casino or truck stop. State police can now go into bars, convenience stores, and nonprofits to remove any machines still running.
- 🎲 Skills & Thrills - For years, these slot-style machines popped up in gas stations, bars, and clubs, with makers claiming a bit of player skill set them apart from casino gambling. Over the summer, the PA Supreme Court decided they’re basically slot machines, making them a no-no outside licensed spots.
- 🤑 Chump Change - This change seems out of the blue, but courts gave state lawmakers 120 days to come up with a plan to tax and regulate the machines so they could stay legal. When that deadline passed with no deal, the ban kicked in.
- 🍸 Lost Wages - The new ban stings for a lot of small biz owners. Bars, convenience stores, and groups like VFW posts leaned on these machines for extra income, and some stand to lose thousands of dollars a year. The state loses too, missing out on a fresh source of tax revenue it could’ve collected.
- 🤼 Dollar Drama - A main issue around the skill games drama was over how much to tax the machines. One proposal set the rate around 20%, while Gov. Josh Shapiro pushed for 52% to match what casino slot machines pay. In the end, no version made it through.
🔥Bottom line: PA’s skill game ban is a big deal for businesses and community groups that counted on the extra cash, and it leaves money on the table for the state, too. The machines could come back someday if lawmakers finally agree on how to tax and regulate them, but that’s likely a while off. For now, you’ll have to get your kicks at the casino.
Mourning the loss of skill games?
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