Pennsylvania Skill Game Bill Proposes 16 Percent Tax, Governor Wants Higher Levy

• A skill game bill has again been introduced in Pennsylvania
• Pennsylvania is home to thousands of the controversial games
• Gov. Josh Shapiro is supportive of legalizing and taxing the machines

Another Pennsylvania skill game bill has been pitched in Harrisburg, but the legislation seeking to legalize the controversial gaming machines likely won’t find the governor’s support.

Senate Bill 626 would regulate and tax skill games, slot-like games that proponents say differ from a traditional casino slot machine because they have a skill component. Unlike a slot that automatically credits a player’s winning spin, with a skill game, the player must tap on a winning payline’s corresponding symbols.

State Sens. Gene Yaw (R-Bradford) and Elder Vogel (R-Beaver) are behind SB626. Yaw and Vogel filed similar legislation last year but ongoing court cases surrounding skill games stalled the bill.

Though the Pennsylvania Supreme Court continues to review whether skill games in Pennsylvania, commonly branded Pennsylvania Skill, are illegal gambling devices under the state’s Gaming Act, Yaw and Vogel say it’s time for the state to create a legal framework for the thousands of machines operating in the commonwealth.

Skill games are supplemental income to small businesses. They primarily benefit veterans organizations and small businesses like convenience stores and taverns. It’s critical that we support SB626 to help support the millions of small businesses in Pennsylvania,” Yaw said in a social media message.

This week, Yaw visited Miele Manufacturing in Muncy, Pa., where Pennsylvania Skill games are manufactured.

Skill Game Proposal 

SB626 would allow businesses holding a state liquor license, nonprofits and fraternal organizations, and retail stores selling tobacco and/or lottery products to seek skill games. Each licensed skill game host would be allowed two skill games per 500 square feet, with a maximum of five terminals.

SB626 would also mandate that the net profits won by the skill games be split 40-40 between the host business and operator, with the remaining 20% reserved for the distributor. Yaw and Vogel’s measure would additionally place a 16% tax on skill game gross revenue.

Governor Wants Higher Tax

Pennsylvania’s highly regulated and taxed commercial gaming industry, among the richest in the nation, opposes skill games on the claims that they poach play from their slot machines. The state lottery does too on similar beliefs.

SB626’s 16% tax is considerably less than the 54% that casino slots are subjected to and far below the 42% tax rate that Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) pitched in his February budget proposal. Shapiro, a rising star in the Democratic party who is expected to mount a 2028 presidential run, says taxing skill games could provide the state with a new funding stream.

Let’s solve more problems together, starting with regulating so-called skill games,” Shapiro said. “If we want Pennsylvania to compete and win, we need to take some of the money going into those slots and put it in our state coffers.”