Pennsylvania skill games are illegal statewide as of Wednesday after lawmakers let a 120-day window close without a bill. Businesses that keep the machines running now face enforcement.
The deadline ran out on Tuesday. The window followed a June ruling by the state Supreme Court, which held that the devices are illegal slot machines rather than unregulated games of skill.
State police have warned that operators who keep taking play risk seizure of the equipment and criminal charges. The PGCB's position is that existing cabinets do not become lawful because they sit in a licensed casino or truck stop: only council-approved slots and video gaming terminals are permitted there. Some venues have already begun hauling machines out. Supplier DeLeo Games of Altoona arranged with police to remove powered-down cabinets by 4 November. That is a grace period for equipment on its way out, not permission to keep operating.
The scale is what makes this matter. Pennsylvania has about 25,000 regulated casino slots against estimates of 50,000 to more than 70,000 skill machines. Casino slots carry a 54% tax; skill games ran with no tax and no oversight. The casino industry argued the machines were pulling customers and revenue out of the regulated market. PGCB figures for the first two months of the 2026-27 fiscal year put slots at $427 million in gross revenue and $145 million in state taxes, with truck-stop video gaming terminals at $6.7 million and $2.8 million respectively.
Lawmakers ended without a compromise. House Bill 2213 and Senate Bill 1079 were on the table: $500 per terminal per month, a statewide cap of 50,000 machines, and backers' estimates of $300 million a year in collections. Neither passed before the deadline. Republican state treasurer Stacy Garrity backed the $500 monthly fee; Governor Josh Shapiro favoured a rate in line with casino slots. The two-year session ends on 30 November, and unfinished bills would have to be refiled next session unless lawmakers are called back sooner.
Based on reporting by CasinoBeats.
