Chris Soriano: Ban 'skill games' that threaten public safety and Pa.'s gaming integrity

In my role at PENN Entertainment, I am charged with ensuring our company meets the appropriately high standards required to earn and retain a gaming license in every jurisdiction in which we operate. At our four properties across the commonwealth, we aren’t simply running casinos — we are providing an experience where entertainment, safety, fairness and responsibility are inextricably and necessarily linked. At our casinos, every spin of the wheel or pull of the lever is underpinned by the highest levels of scrutiny, security and regulation.

Securing a gaming license in Pennsylvania is no small task. It requires a thorough vetting process of every aspect of our company, and it’s an inspection that only the most transparent and responsible organizations can pass.

And that’s the way it should be.

However, a disturbing trend has taken root in Pennsylvania. There has been a surge in unregulated so-called “skill games” scattered throughout local communities. Commonly found in gas stations, convenience stores and taverns, these machines fool customers by looking and acting like legal slot machines. But they operate without the stringent regulations and commitments to integrity that form the backbone of legal gaming in Pennsylvania.

“Skill game” machines do not undergo any independent testing to ensure fairness for players. Because of this, we suspect that for every dollar bet by players, unregulated machines keep an estimated 25 cents, compared to 7.7 cents kept by regulated slot machines in Pennsylvania. And that’s only if unregulated operators pay customers’ winnings at all.

The consequences of allowing these machines to operate unfettered extend beyond just customers. They also impact every community in Pennsylvania that relies on the more than $2.2 billion in state taxes paid annually by the legal gaming industry to fund critical local projects. According to American Gaming Association estimates, these so-called “skill games” — which skirt taxation by operating outside the law — cheat the commonwealth out of more than $1 billion in state tax revenue each year.

But now skill game operators have found allies in Harrisburg that seek to wipe the slate clean and provide special treatment for legalizing these machines, including taxing them at a massive discount (16% of gaming revenue vs. 54% paid by the legal gaming industry). Moreover, operators of these machines will not be required to meet the same high standards of integrity, responsibility and security as legal casino operators.

There is no shortage of additional evidence as to why this is the entirely wrong approach.

For one, these machines tragically put Pennsylvanians in danger. In December 2020, a 50-year-old store clerk in Hazelton was murdered by a regular player of the shop’s skill games who robbed the store of $14,000 — cash he knew would be on hand because of the machines’ presence.

And before assuming the governor’s office, then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro charged two individuals with robberies of 25 different skill games throughout the Philadelphia area that totaled more than $100,000. Agents seized numerous firearms from these individuals that Shapiro said were purchased with money they robbed from the unregulated machines.

For the safety of Pennsylvania residents and communities, state legislators must act to stop the proliferation of skill games, not legalize them. Pennsylvania should unequivocally ban these machines, provide law enforcement with the resources to remove them, and ensure that all legal gaming stakeholders in the commonwealth are held to the same high standards of transparency, fairness, regulation and taxation. That is how we continue Pennsylvania’s tradition of maintaining a strong, safe legal gaming industry.