ICYMI: New York Times Shows What Happens When So-Called “Skill” Games Take Root

In case you missed it, The New York Times recently reported from Pennsylvania, where nearly 70,000 so-called “skill” machines operate in gas stations, laundromats, pizza shops and barbershops. Its reporting underscores that these devices look and function like neighborhood slot machines and are causing real harm. (Read the full story here.)

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker called the machines “predatory,” and in June, Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court settled the question, ruling that they are slot machines that cannot operate without a gambling license. But a ruling on paper does little once 70,000 machines are already sitting in corner stores. Taking them out has proven a far harder fight than keeping them out would have been.

Reporters visited five Allentown laundromats. All five had the machines. Most players had never touched the “skill” portion and assumed the name meant knowing when a machine is “hot,” which is exactly how people talk about slots.

The head of Pennsylvania’s Council on Compulsive Gambling said calls from people identifying “skill” games as their primary gambling problem rose ninefold between 2019 and 2025. “Regardless of what the legal system decides to assign as far as a name, there’s a lot of people that are struggling.”

Even a bar owner who supports the machines acknowledged the risks: “I’ve been in stores where you have little kids sitting at them thinking they’re a video game.”

That is what happens when neighborhood slot machines are allowed to take root. Virginia made the right decision to make and KEEP these machines illegal. Pennsylvania lawmakers should take note.

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