Are skill games gambling or not?
That’s the question that’s divided Pennsylvania’s legislators – and its courts – for more than a decade. Last month while a state senator declared skill games “are not gambling,” the state Supreme Court ruled otherwise.
In front steps of the Capitol building in Harrisburg, incumbent Republican state Sen. Jarrett Coleman (SD-16) told a crowd of skill games supporters and businesses that “skill games should operate under no tax, and no regulation, because they are not gambling.”
Pennsylvania Senate District 16 is made up of communities in Lehigh and Bucks counties.
At the time, Coleman claimed skill games weren’t gambling, should not be taxed and are not subject to the same regulations as other forms of gambling in the commonwealth.
“Senator Coleman stood on the Capitol steps [on June 24] defending one of his largest campaign donors and asking Pennsylvanians to believe these machines are not gambling,” said Mark Pinsley, Lehigh County Controller and Democratic candidate set to square off against Coleman in November’s midterm elections. “That is hard to take seriously. When someone puts money into a machine hoping to win more money, most people understand that this is gambling.”
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court also begs to differ with Coleman’s skill games assessment.
The high court’s 4-2 ruling on June 15, made skill games illegal to operate as they had been since roughly 2015 inside social clubs, gas stations, convenience stores, bars and other business locations.
The decision came about two weeks before the state legislature missed its mandated June 30 budget adoption deadline.
Justice Kevin Dougherty “did not participate in the argument or decision in these matters” the court decision said. Justice Kevin Brobson filed a “concurrent and dissenting opinion” to which Justice Sallie Updyke Mundy joined.
Now legislators must find a way to craft and adopt legislation over the sector.
Governor Josh Shapiro’s 2026-2027 budget proposal includes putting skill games under the purview of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, estimating an annual revenue collections windfall of roughly $2 billion, Penn Capital-Star reported.
“Skill games should operate under no tax, and no regulation, because they are not gambling.” – State Senator Jarrett Coleman
In its June decision regarding skill games, the high court ruled they are the same as slot machines and should be regulated accordingly under Pennsylvania law.
For more than a decade skill games have operated unregulated and untaxed.
That means skill games must abide by the same rules and regulations; including crime and gambling statutes, the Associated Press reported.
Last November, a Philadelphia jury made a $15.3 million verdict against the software company and skill game maker that produces Pennsylvania Skill games in the murder of a convenience store clerk in 2020, the Penn Capital-Star reported. The shooting death was used as evidence for the need to regulate skill games across the commonwealth.
Pinsley said the skill games industry “has put a lot of money behind Senator Coleman and now he is arguing they should not be taxed or regulated.”
A request to Coleman for comment was not returned.
Armchair Lehigh Valley reported in March that according to campaign finance reports, Coleman received nearly $400,000 this year from skill game executives and an affiliated political action committee Pace-O-Matic.
Pinsley said if skill game machines have a future in Pennsylvania, they should be “regulated, taxed and handled honestly.”
