Posted on: October 30, 2024, 11:10h.
Last updated on: October 30, 2024, 11:14h.
The Pennsylvania town where Parx Casino operates just north of Philadelphia has passed a local ordinance that bans so-called skill games that look and sound similar to traditional casino slot machines but vary slightly in their gameplay.
A man plays a Pennsylvania Skill game inside an American Legion in Erie. This week, the Bensalem Township Council passed an ordinance banning the controversial gray games. Bensalem is home to Parx Casino, the richest casino in the state. (Image: Erie Times-News)
On Monday night, the Bensalem Township Council and Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo (R) adopted an ordinance outlawing real money gambling on skill machines. The measure goes into effect in 10 days, or November 7.
Unlike the slot machines inside Parx, which automatically credit a winning payline to the gambler, a skill device requires the player to identify and tap on winning symbol combinations.
Proponents of skill games say the player can impact a machine’s payout rate unlike a slot, and therefore, the terminals don’t constitute gambling because there is a skill element involved. State courts have agreed in ruling that skill games don’t fall under the scope of the Pennsylvania Gaming Act, though the commonwealth’s Supreme Court is reviewing those lower courts’ decisions.
The Bensalem ordinance prohibits skill games — commonly branded Pennsylvania Skill — in all businesses other than those holding state-issued liquor licenses.
We’ve seen a proliferation of these machines and all types of businesses and we’ve also seen it welcome a criminal element,” said Bensalem Public Safety Director William McVey.
For businesses that do possess liquor licenses, the ordinance requires that skill games be placed within view of employees, be inaccessible to anyone under the age of 18, and have video surveillance. Businesses without liquor licenses that continue to offer skill games face a daily fine of $1,000.
Appeasing Parx?
Parx is the richest casino among the 17 brick-and-mortar gaming properties in Pennsylvania.
In exchange for being a host of a Category 2 casino, or a standalone casino, Bensalem and Bucks County receive 2% of Parx’s gross gaming revenue from retail slots, table games, and in-person and online sports betting. In the 2023-24 fiscal year that ran from July 2023 through June 2024, the local share assessment amounted to $7.5 million from slots, $3.9 million from tables, and $337K from sports betting for a total of more than $11.7 million.
The ownership of Parx, one of only two smoke-free casinos along with its sister satellite property, Parx Casino Shippensburg, have been outspoken opponents of skill games. In June, Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment announced it was halting its plans to build a hotel at the Parx Bensalem property because of the threat the continued proliferation of skill games has on its business outlook.
Until we have greater clarity on those things, we weren’t comfortable making a nine-figure investment,” said Marc Oppenheimer, Parx’s chief marketing officer.
Parx opted to instead acquire a nearby hotel and invest in upgrading the former Inn at Fox Chase.
Skill Manufacturer Disappointed
Georgia-based Pace-O-Matic, the developer of the popular Pennsylvania Skill games that contracts a Pennsylvania gaming firm, Miele Manufacturing, to assemble its cabinets, says the Bensalem Council is siding with a casino over small businesses.
Pennsylvania Skill is alarmed that Bensalem Township would pass a measure that will hurt small family-owned businesses and fraternal clubs that benefit from the supplemental revenue from skill games. We take the welfare of the communities where our games are located seriously and agree that the number of illegal gambling machines cropping up in communities across the state is a problem. A ban that includes legal skill games, however, is not the answer,” said POM spokesperson Mike Barley.
POM is expected to challenge the Bensalem ordinance in court.
Bensalem law enforcement officials say they’ve responded to “several criminal incidents” tied to skill gaming machines over the past year. Township councilors say the ordinance limiting the games to places where liquor is sold or dispensed will prevent gambling from occurring in businesses where minors and families frequent.
Bensalem’s ban on skill games follows a similar ordinance passed by the Philadelphia City Council in February 2024.
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