Skill-based gaming is nothing new. It debuted in Atlantic City and Las Vegas around five years ago to mixed success.
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Pennsylvania Skills Game Slot Machine: $2.00 bet bonus round in Living Large, 3X bonus, got ALL AMOUNTS! Skill Slot Machines Not Leaving PA Any Time Soon. PAIG, casinos, and Governor Wolf aren’t fans of skill-based terminals. Certain local governments and police departments don’t like them either. Police have even seized these machines in some areas. However, Pennsylvania officials have been unsuccessful at banning skill machines so far.
However, skill slots are currently the hottest thing in Pennsylvania’s gaming market. Numerous people are playing these slots at bars, convenience stores, restaurants, and other types of businesses.
A PA skill game works a little differently from a regular slot machine. Assuming you’d like to know more about these games, you can learn about them below.
How Does a Pennsylvania Skill Slot Machine Work?
A Pennsylvania skill game looks and plays very similar to a regular slot machine. You begin playing these games by inserting your money into the terminal.
Next, you spin the reels and hope to line up matching symbols in paylines. Most of these games show how much each winning combinations pays through a pay table on the side.
Again, you can see that these games aren’t much different from standard slots. But each can differ from the next regarding the skill element.
Here are various examples on how these slots incorporate skill:
- A pre-reveal mechanism that allows you to see if you’ll win or lose the next spin.
- You must touch wild and/or scatter symbols to activate them.
- Skill-based bonus rounds.
Starting with the first option, pre-reveal slot machines first gained infamy in Florida. They give you an option, or force you, to see if the upcoming round will be a winner or loser.
Knowing the result of the spin enables you to determine whether it’s worth playing. Normally, though, you can only see the result of a single spin.
The second feature, where you touch certain symbols to activate them, doesn’t really bring much skill into the fold. It simply introduces a manual element to the game.
Finally, skill-based bonus rounds can see you do all sorts of things. One example is a memory game, where the slot shows you a series of flashing dots.
At first, you’ll have an easier time remember which dots flash. But these games get tougher and tougher as more dots flash and really test your memory skills.
How Do Skill Games Differ From Regular Slot Machines?
A skill slot machine looks and plays much like standard real money slots. You probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two under most circumstances.
However, PA skill games feature more action than just spinning the reels. As described before, they see you doing everything from tapping symbols to playing fun bonuses.
Pace-O-Matic, one of the biggest manufacturers of such terminals, designs these games in a specific manner so as to avoid the normal gambling distinction.
After all, convenience stores, laundry mats, and bars can’t just offer a regular slot machine without a license. But they can feature a skill-based terminal without breaking laws—at least for now anyways.
These machines also give you more influence over the results. You might not be able to use your abilities to control 100% of the outcomes. However, you may have the ability to control approximately 3% of the action through skill.
The companies that develop PA skill slots aren’t required to divulge return to player (RTP). Their operators don’t need to offer this information either.
This aspect heavily differs from the regulated Pennsylvania gambling market. Land-based casinos must work with gaming regulators and offer RTP figures.
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In What Ways Are Skill and Regular Slots the Same?
These games may offer the promise of skill-based gaming. In the end, though, they aren’t much different than standard slot machines.
Both use random number generators to determine the bulk of the results. Your odds of winning heavily rely on the luck associated with each spin.
For example, a PA skill slot might feature 90% RTP on the spins alone. But it would give you the ability to influence another 5% of the RTP through a bonus round.
With expert play, you could bump the payback up to 95%. Of course, this figure doesn’t differ much from casino slots, which typically offer between 90% and 95% payback.
Another similarity is the fact that the house wins in both cases. Some players mistakenly believe that they can win guaranteed profits if they play a skill-based game just right.
The truth, though, is that they don’t have any better chance of winning at a convenience store than they do a casino. The skill aspect is mostly an illusion that’s designed to float Pennsylvania gambling laws.
Of course, you can always get lucky with a skill-based or regular slot machine and win the jackpot. You’ll be relying on luck to win in both cases, though.
Skill Slots Are Quite Controversial
PAIG also takes exception to the fact that these games aren’t regulated. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board doesn’t have any jurisdiction over the makers or operators of skill terminals.
Furthermore, the bars, convenience stores, and restaurants that offer these machines don’t pay additional taxes. They only cover standard income taxes on profits.
Contrast this situation to the state’s 12 land-based casinos. Each must pay a licensing fee to operate along with a 54% tax rate on revenue.
This 54% rate makes Pennsylvania one of the toughest markets for earning casino gaming profits. Meanwhile, skill-based operators gain a competitive advantage by paying far less in taxes.
Will Pennsylvania Ban These Slot Machines?
PAIG has made some headway in bringing light to the hypocrisy surrounding skill-based gaming. The group is drawing more attention to their mission of getting these games shut down.
Police in certain Pennsylvania jurisdictions have seized these terminals during crackdowns on illegal gambling. Pace-O-Matic responded with a lawsuit against the Bureau of Liquor Control and Enforcement.
As of now, the two sides are embroiled in a murky legal battle where nobody has tasted victory yet. In January 2020, a Commonwealth Court judge ruled that Pennsylvania State Police can seize skill-based games while the matter is being decided in court.
This ruling doesn’t mean that authorities will seize relevant terminals all over the Keystone State. Instead, it just lifts a ban on the practice of doing so as law enforcement sees fit.
State police argue that the skill-based machines are only a small part of their crackdown on illegal gambling. They’ve only seized a few dozen of the 20,000 skill games operating throughout the state.
For this reason, the Commonwealth Judge saw no reason to ban such seizures. Of course, the games will be given back if Pace-O-Matic wins its case.
Neither side has presented a compelling argument on why these terminals should or shouldn’t be legal. But Florida might provide a preview on what will happen with this case.
The Sunshine State had a problem with pre-reveal slot machines running rampant throughout its borders. The Seminole Tribe, which holds a gambling pact with Florida, argued that pre-reveal games violated its agreement with the state.
After careful consideration, a judge decided to ban these machines. They ruled that pre-reveal slots fall under the definition of illegal gambling.
Pennsylvania doesn’t have a tribal gaming pact with any Native American tribes. However, it does have a licensed gambling market with 12 casinos.
The state may ultimately rule against Pace-O-Matic to preserve its good relationship with the licensed gambling establishments.
Conclusion
A PA skill slot differs slightly from casino terminals by including some element of skill. “Some” is the key word here, though, because these games don’t give you a true chance to overcome the house edge.
You might be able to influence 5% of the RTP through your abilities. But if the base RTP is 91%, you can only achieve up to 96% RTP.
Skill-based slots remain a mixed bag. They include different elements than a standard slot, but they’re also somewhat deceiving in how much control they give you over results.
PAIG is currently fighting against these terminals and believe that they constitute illegal gaming. The jury is out, though, on if these games will ultimately be outlawed.
The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court confirmed in a ruling on Nov. 20 that video game machines manufactured and distributed by the company Pace-O-Matic (POM) under the name “Pennsylvania Skill” are considered slot machines under Pennsylvania law. However, Judge Patricia McCullough did not state that POM was in violation of the Gaming Act. Per her ruling, the law does not apply to unlicensed slot machines.
This is the latest decision in a lengthy battle within the Commonwealth over whether or not these skill-based games are legal.
POM had argued that their machines were a “game of skill” and therefore not a slot machine under PA law. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Revenue, and the City of Philadelphia are defendants in the lawsuit.
Surprisingly. Pace-O-Matic lawyer Matt Haverstick of Philadelphia-based law firm Kleinbard said they were “pleased” with the ruling. He added:
“We expect to have a trial or hearing just like in Beaver County where we demonstrate under the Crimes Code we are predominately skill. We are prepared to do it and look forward to putting on the case and are confident on how it is going to turn out. We have a legal machine and at least one court has upheld we are a legal machine. We expect soon we’re going get a bigger broader ruling that we are a legal machine.”
Seizure of skill game machines at heart of court case
On June, 8 2018, POM filed a petition for review seeking a judgment and injunctive relief. POM says that from March 2017 until June 2018, the City of Philadelphia conducted 11 separate seizures of machines. City law enforcement also arrested employees and seized funds at each location. POM alleges that the City’s seizures of the POM games was illegal. Additionally, POM contended the seizures interfered with the Department’s mission to fairly, efficiently, and accurately administer the tax laws and other revenue programs of the Commonwealth.
Parx calls to confiscate
Parx, which was not listed as a defendant in the case, called the ruling “a blow to illegal gambling and a victory for families and communities in Pennsylvania.”
However, Judge McCullough did not refer to Pennsylvania Skill games as “illegal gaming devices.”
Parx asserts that the Commonwealth Court’s clarification that “Pennsylvania Skill” games are “slot machines” under PA law provides clear legal jurisdiction for law enforcement at the state and local levels to confiscate the machines and prosecute those responsible for manufacturing, distributing, leasing or owning the machines.
Thomas C. Bonner, Chief Counsel for Parx Casino commented:
“We know that illegal slot machines and full-blown illegal casinos are popping up all over Pennsylvania. We know that minors are gambling, and we know that the state Lottery is losing tens of millions of dollars that should be going to our seniors because of these illegal machines. It’s time to confiscate these machines and put these illegal casinos out of business.”
A day after releasing the press release, Parx sent out a notice to disregard the news release.
Haverstick responded to Parx now-retracted press release with:
“We were puzzled when we saw Parx, a non-party, jump into the fray and then mangle the opinion. Parx embarrassed themselves. They are not doing any favor to the thousands of Pennsylvanians, the business owners who rely on it for revenue, the people who manufacture the games, or the people who play for entertainment. These are legal games.”
What’s next?
Pennsylvania Skill machines are usually found at bars, social clubs, and corner stores. Don’t expect them to immediately disappear overnight.
A Beaver County court deemed Pennsylvania Skill Games legal in a 2014 decision. Since then, there have been a number of House Gaming Oversight Committee Public Hearings debating their legality. The Pennsylvania Lottery also waged a very public campaign to push to explicitly outlaw the machines with new legislation.
Here’s what Haverstick said is next for POM:
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“We expect to have a trial or hearing just like in Beaver County where we demonstrate under the Crimes Code we are predominate skill. We are prepared to do it and look forward to putting on the case and are confident on how it is going to turn out. We have a legal machine and at least one court has upheld we are a legal machine. We expect soon we’re going get a bigger broader ruling that we are a legal machine.”
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If the past is any indication, there will be more days in court for POM who will fight to keep their machines operating as usual.