Pennsylvania Skill Games Continued Target of Criminals, Latest Incident in York

Posted on: March 17, 2025, 09:56h. 

Last updated on: March 17, 2025, 10:26h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.
  • Police are looking for two men who allegedly stole money from a Pennsylvania Skill Game in York, Pa. last month
  • Skill games are controversial; small business owners like the revenue they provide while opponents say the unregulated machines promote problem gambling and increased crime
  • Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro is supportive of regulating the machines

Pennsylvania Skill games have been involved in a slew of crimes since the controversial terminals exploded into the commonwealth almost a decade ago. Police in York County say a gas station that houses a few of the slot-like devices was the latest victim to be targeted.

Pennsylvania Skill game crime York
Police in York, Pa. are seeking the two males in these photographs. The males are alleged to have damaged a Pennsylvania Skill game machine and made off with an unspecified amount of cash. (Image: SGTPD.org/Casino.org)

The Spring Garden Township Police Department in south central Pennsylvania reports that two males entered the Carroll Mart gas station and convenience store located at 1000 S. George St. in York across from the York Hospital at approximately 3:43 pm on Thursday, February 27. The two unidentified Black subjects “damaged a skill games machine and stole money from it,” the police report said.

Law enforcement shared surveillance photos of the two men in question and have asked anyone with information on their identities to contact the Spring Garden Township Police Department at 717-843-0851. Anonymous tips can be submitted via the department’s Crime Watch website.

Pennsylvania Skill Game Controversy

Skill games in Pennsylvania aren’t regulated. As such, they don’t provide consumer safeguards like guarantees that they pay out at a certain rate like state-regulated slot machines.

There are also little to no protections against minors and problem gamblers who have self-excluded themselves from gambling, or people on the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s (PCGB) Involuntary Exclusion List from accessing the terminals. And unlike casinos, which pay tens of millions of dollars in upfront licensing fees and share about half of their gross winnings from slots with the state, skill game revenue provides no tax benefit, whether on the state or local level.

Critics say the gray games are magnets for crime and unsavory activity.

A year ago this month, the Philadelphia City Council passed an ordinance banning the terminals in all businesses that don’t possess a liquor license. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said in support of the decree that skill games, with Pennsylvania Skill being the predominant cabinet, have led to people congregating in gas stations and corner stores that cannot accommodate such large groups. The loitering has elevated crime, including robberies, fights, and even gunfire.

“The violence we see around our stores when we have these gatherings — particularly in some of our more violent pockets — is just adding another ingredient [to crime],” Bethel said at the time.

Small Businesses Clap Back 

The manufacturers and route distributors, along with the many small businesses like restaurants and bars, gas stations, and retail stores that house skill games, claim the machines helped keep workers employed amid skyrocketing inflation in the pandemic’s aftermath. Many business owners have also argued that the gaming revenue has helped them offset ongoing higher costs for goods and services.

The skill gaming industry continues to seek regulation and a tax that benefits local municipalities and the state, but with a duty lower than that on casino slots to allow the small businesses to continue sustaining their enterprises. Despite strong opposition and lobbying from the regulated gaming industry, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) is supportive of creating a legal framework for Pennsylvania skill games.

Last month, Shapiro again included possible tax revenue from skill games in his proposed budget.

“Let’s solve more problems … starting with regulating so-called skill games,” Shapiro said during his address to the General Assembly. “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 so we can maintain our reserves and keep building on our progress.”