Recently, the Philadelphia City Council introduced a bill that would prohibit public corner stores from operating Pennsylvania skill games. Pace-O-Matic (POM) is a Georgia-based skill games manufacturer. If this proposed bill is passed, they would have limits on how many machines they could legally have in Pennsylvania. In the Keystone State, the regulatory industry is against skill games due to the lack of consumer protection. Additionally, it takes away from retail and online PA casinos. The passing of this bill is strictly a public safety issue in Philadelphia.
How does Pace-O-Matic feel about the ban on skill games in PA?
In January, Philadelphia Councilmember Curtis Jones proposed a bill that would allow licensed facilities or establishments an alcohol license and 30 or more seats to possess skill games. If his bill is passed, the number of skill game machines in PA would decrease. Hurting Pace-O-Matic’s business. Their public affairs officer Mike Barley had this to say.
“Pennsylvania Skill and skill game software company Pace-O-Matic are alarmed that City Council would consider a measure that will harm small family-owned businesses. On behalf of those businesses, we call on City Council to wait until pending state legislation is passed.” – Mike Barley
There’s been an ongoing debate across the country on whether skill games take away from other businesses in the industry. This debate has been happening in Pennsylvania. Recently, there was a deadly incident between customers of a small business and the Philadephia police. Some have argued that this brought validity to Councilmember Jones’ new legislation. POM would not state directly whether there would be a lawsuit to fight against the bill. Last month, a company representative Matt Haverstick said there would be a lawsuit filed. Mike Barley did not directly say this but POM is not going to go down without a fight.
Governor Josh Shapiro plans on proposing a 42% tax on these skill game machines in Pennsylvania. Even if Curtis Jones’ bill is not passed, that tax is going to negatively affect POM. If Jones’ bill is passed, that’s another way for them to lose out of revenue.
