HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania State Police say they can start seizing skill-game machines on Oct. 14 and charge the businesses that keep them. From then on, the machines are illegal everywhere except licensed casinos and truck stops.
In a notice posted Sept. 9, the agency said businesses “possessing, operating and/or maintaining such machines are subject to criminal prosecution and immediate seizure of the machines as of October 14, 2026.” That leaves lawmakers about a month to tax and regulate machines that sit in bars, clubs, gas stations and fire halls.
Police may also take related equipment and the money tied to the machines, and file charges “where deemed appropriate,” the notice says.
The agency warned: “Simply powering off an otherwise operable machine or unplugging them is not sufficient to comply with the law.” It told businesses to have the vendors that own the machines haul them away, and to call state police if a vendor won’t.
What made them illegal
On June 15, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the terminals, including those running Pace-O-Matic software, are “slot machines” under the state Gaming Act. That overturned lower courts that had called them games of skill. The court held off enforcement for 120 days, a window that closes Oct. 13.
About 70,000 machines operate statewide, Spotlight PA reported. WITF reported that the state’s Independent Fiscal Office estimates each one brings in about $47,000 a year.
Who stands to lose
Pace-O-Matic said June 15 that “more than 10,000 Pennsylvania small businesses and fraternal clubs” would be affected.
Rich Dvorscak, administrator of Moose Lodge 214 in Jersey Shore, Lycoming County, said without the money he expects the lodge “to be out of business within six to 12 months,” according to northcentralpa.com.
Parx Casino CEO Eric Hausler, who wants the machines to follow casino rules, linked them to “criminal behavior” and “compulsive gambling” in a June op-ed, CDC Gaming reported.
What could still change it
Senate Bill 1079, led by Sens. Gene Yaw, R-Lycoming, and Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, would license the machines and charge $500 a month per terminal, which supporters say would raise about $300 million a year. It has sat in a Senate committee since Nov. 11, 2025, and a House version, HB 2213, since Feb. 11.
The tax rates on the table are far apart, LNP reported: Gov. Josh Shapiro wants 52 percent, Republican Sen. Chris Gebhard 35 percent, and Yaw 16 percent. A deal fell apart in July over a transit funding dispute, the paper added. Rep. Russ Diamond, R-Lebanon, has since proposed a 20 percent rate paired with a lower casino slot tax, WITF reported.
The House and Senate calendars each list six voting days before the deadline: Sept. 28, 29 and 30 and Oct. 5, 6 and 7. Neither chamber meets again until Oct. 19.
Berks County District Attorney John Adams, speaking for the state district attorneys association, told The Center Square state police would likely “be the leaders in the enforcement.”
In the Lehigh Valley
State Sen. Jarrett Coleman, a Republican whose 16th District covers parts of Lehigh and Bucks counties, sits on the Senate committee holding SB 1079. At an Aug. 6 rally at the Macungie VFW, he said clubs that lose the money would “no longer be able to contribute to the community in the ways that they have,” WFMZ reported.
Northampton County District Attorney Stephen Baratta signed a February letter from the state prosecutors’ association that asked Shapiro and lawmakers to tax and regulate the machines. Coverage of this week’s notice through Friday carried no public comment from Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan.