The court-imposed deadline for businesses to remove unauthorized unlicensed skill games in Pennsylvania has come and gone. Now what?
The state Supreme Court ruled the machines are illegal after Tuesday the 13th and gave lawmakers 120 days to pass legislation to legalize, regulate and tax them. That never happened.
Law enforcement can now seize remaining machines.
Nonprofits, VFW's and local bars are scrambling to replace vital revenue these machines generated.
Some say these machines are better left banned. But local taverns and fraternal organizations are losing a financial lifeline. A VFW leader reacted by saying: “take the machines away and we're going to go straight down the tubes.".
Party leaders could call lawmakers back to Harrisburg for a vote. And they should.
Somehow, the Senate unanimously passed and sent to the House two bills to allow service clubs and volunteer fire departments to increase prize payouts and keep more profit from raffles, pull tabs and 50/50 drawings.
Why couldn’t they create a legal, taxed framework for skill games by the end of the year?
Pennsylvania’s legislature failed. To be precise, they failed the people who elected them and the clubs and volunteer fire departments who rely on skill game revenue. Lawmakers are making a bad bet if they think voters will forget their inaction.
