By: Matthew Santoni
In 2019, the Pennsylvania State Police raided Cohen Seglias client Champions Sports Bar in Highspire, Pennsylvania, and confiscated numerous electronic skill game machines. Last week, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court declared Skill Game machines, popular in bars and restaurants across the United States, legal statewide in Pennsylvania and are not the equivalent of “slot machines” only permitted in casinos licensed by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. The court also concluded that Pennsylvania Skill Games are not illegal “gambling devices” because they are predominately games of skill and not games of chance. As a result, the court affirmed a lower court ruling ordering that the Pennsylvania State Police return the machines seized from Champions Sports Bar.
Partner Christopher Carusone represents Champions in the case, and spoke with Law360 regarding the case, stating, “This is a significant win for Pennsylvania bars and restaurants like Champions. Pennsylvania Skill Games from Pace-O-Matic are an important source of revenue for these establishments, many of whom are still trying to recover from the economic effects of the pandemic.” He added, “This is a strongly-worded decision that leaves no doubt in my mind that Pennsylvania Skill Games are entirely legal in bars and restaurants throughout Pennsylvania.”
“Pennsylvania Skill Games” cropping up in bars, restaurants and storefronts around the Keystone State are not illegal slot machines or gambling devices, a state appellate court ruled Thursday.
Because the game terminals, primarily made and sold through Georgia-based Pace-O-Matic, include a secondary game that players can consistently win by remembering and repeating patterns, the devices rely on skill, not chance, and are not banned outside of casinos, according to the en banc Commonwealth Court’s precedential ruling.
“Even though the puzzle portion of the game was predominantly a game of chance, the fact that the Follow Me feature could be won every time and showed up every time a player won less than 105% of the amount played eliminated the chance element,” Judge Lori Dumas wrote for the unanimous court’s opinion. “We discern no legal error in the trial court’s determination that the POM machines are primarily games of skill and, thus, not gambling devices per se. …The POM machines at issue in this case are not slot machines as commonly defined. Accordingly, these electronic games are not illegal per se.”