Court filings seek to extend skill games deadline

Pennsylvania state lawmakers and a trade group representing skill game companies are asking the state Supreme Court to use its authority to keep skill games in operation until next year.

State senators Gene Yaw and Anthony Williams and state representatives Danilo Burgos and Jonathan Fritz have filed two petitions for exercise of King's Bench Authority or extraordinary jurisdiction over the stay entered in POM of Pennsylvania LLC v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Dept. of Revenue. That stay allowed skill games to stay in operation until Wednesday, Oct. 14, at which point state agencies can begin seizing the games.

One request was filed Tuesday, with another filed on Wednesday. The legislators are asking the court to extend the stay until it decides on the lawmakers' request as well as a formal extension through Feb. 10, 2027.

State lawmakers were given the original 120-day stay of enforcement of the court order so that the legislature could pass legislation establishing a licensing, taxation and regulatory framework for skill games. The legislature's last session day before court order takes effect was Wednesday, and nothing was passed by the Senate or General Assembly.

"Petitioners need time to have that legislation introduced, and the legislative process will not be complete by Oct. 13, 2026," wrote attorney David Senoff, representing the state lawmakers, in his petition filed with the court. "Petitioners do not see the extension because law enforcement agencies are unable to enforce existing law. They seek it because widespread seizure and impoundment of devices in the weeks before enactment would make prompt implementation of the legislation materially more difficult. A device held in evidence, or made the subject of a forfeiture proceeding ... is not available for registration, inspection, compliance testing, licensing and lawful operation."

On June 15, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled that skill games, often found in taverns, restaurants, social clubs, mini-marts, gas stations, grocery stores, laundromats, pizza parlors, and other businesses, are in fact “slot machines” as defined in the Gaming Act. Slot machines are considered gambling devices under the Crimes Code, and a person commits a criminal offense by owning, operating, or maintaining slot machines without a license issued by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB). Only licensed casinos and qualifying licensed “truck stop establishments” may legally possess and operate slot machines or video gaming terminals that have been inspected and approved for operation by the PGCB.

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.

A third application to intervene was filed Thursday morning on behalf of the Skill Games Business Consortium. Attorneys Mayurice Nernberg Jr. of Nernberg and Lyons and John P. Corcoran Jr. of Jones, Gregg, Creehan and Gerace, both of Pittsburgh, note several bills that have been drafted, including Senate Bill 626 and House Bills 2213, 2557, 2795, 2801 and 2802, have all been introduced in recent weeks and days. The consortium is also asking for an additional 120-day stay that extends the status quo until February.

“The petitioners understand that this petition is being filed perilously close to the deadline set by this court, but that is because the petitioners believed that the legislature would act before the deadline set by this court and, in fact, multiple pieces of legislation are making their way through the legislature, including one to extend the deadline, but petitioners are concerned that there is simply not enough time,” Nernberg and Corcoran argued. “In addition, both the Pennsylvania State Police and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office have issued directives indicating that the skill games currently in use and placed throughout the Commonwealth will be subject to immediate seizure and the purveyors thereof subject to criminal liability once this court’s stay expires. The petitioners are in the process of removing those machines and/or rendering them inoperable, but the likelihood of otherwise law-abiding, taxpaying citizens and businesses being caught off guard in all of the uncertainty is significant.”