Center Square photo by Julia Kramer Progress Fire Company Home Association Vice President Mary Sweigard is pictured.

While legislators from both chambers have proposed legalizing skill games in recent years, nonprofits who rely on revenue from the devices fear it may disappear because of a mid-October deadline created by a Supreme Court decision.

The estimated 70,000 devices scattered around the state are unregulated and untaxed. The court decision issued in mid-June declared them to be illegal gambling devices, but the court stayed the decision for 120 days to allow them to come up with a solution.

In Dauphin County, Lisa Iskric is the manager of the Steelton American Legion, a nonprofit which helps fund the community’s needs that range from new coats for the baseball team to placing flags on veterans’ graves. The post first incorporated skill games 10 years ago to help afford building upgrades and maintenance, however operations seriously changed after Covid. Now skill game revenue is built into their budget and essential for continued function.

“It’s put into what we do and if we didn’t have them, I don’t see us surviving too much longer after that.” Iskric said.

Post 420 in Steelton has four games and relies on them for 30% of their revenue. While no longer under the threat of a 52% tax initially proposed by Shapiro, Iscrik believes her nonprofit will still likely go under if lawmakers cannot legalize the games by the due date. She hopes that legislators and Pennsylvanians will understand how significant this loss would be to her community and regulars who depend on the human connection her establishment provides.

“We have a lot of men and women that come in here right at 12 o’clock. This is their daily routine,” Isrick said. “These places are more like a home and mainstay.”

Isrick worries that the public perceives her club as just a place to drink and smoke. But for her, the work she and similar clubs do, isn’t about a ‘paycheck’. It’s about the people.

“I can’t help but think these other clubs have the same thing,” Isrick said. “Have older members that this is their place to go. And I just feel like if something does happen, and we’re not here, then what happens to them?”

Vice President of the Progress Fire Company Home Association Mary Sweigard heartily agrees.

“This is home to a lot of them. There are friendships, relationships,” Sweigard said.

While larger and less dependent on the skill games than the Steelton Legion, the PFCHA is no less invested in the fight. Setting up signs and encouraging members to contact local legislators, Sweigard and her team hope to get their cause ‘up to the front burner’. So far, the community support has been coming through.

“They’re all onboard.” Sweigard said.

PFHCA is the acronym for the Progress Fire Company Home Association.

One such member and veteran, regularly plays the skill games at PFCHA and and believes that it ‘helps them stay afloat’. He appreciates that the games allow him to win more often and sees them as necessary competition for the casino industry.

Unlike slot machines, skill games require interaction, not just the mindless pulling of a lever. As Isrick noted, sometimes her machines don’t even make a profit.

“It’s not ‘house always wins’ all the time,” Isrick said. “There are times that we’re negative.”

One of the current legislative bills that would legalize the skill games proposes a $500 charge for each machine; a cost Isrick isn’t excited about but said her establishment could handle. However, with both chambers enjoying summer recess, even getting these bills passed in time may not happen.

“We have to have some conversations over the summer. Serious conversations,” said Rep. Russ Diamond of Lebanon County, the top Republican in the House Gaming Oversight Committee. “The deadline that’s set by the court seems like a long time when you say it as 120 days, but for legislators, that’s not a very long time at all.”

Sweigard also feels the clock ticking away and fears the consequences of government inaction.

“If something doesn’t happen come Oct. 13 at midnight, that’s it,” she said. “We’re done.”