DV Journal

Since I was elected, I have authored, sponsored, and passed legislation focused on improving the lives of veterans. In that work, I have seen firsthand the importance of veteran organizations to our communities. They are not just places where folks can have a beer and get a bite to eat. Our VFW and American Legion posts provide essential services, programs, and support to our veterans.

Our men and women who have served in the military, especially those deployed in combat situations, often face significant challenges returning to civilian life. Having a place where they can gather with peers and benefit from a sense of community is vital. Protecting these spaces is the least we can do in return for their sacrifices.

That is why I encourage my colleagues in Harrisburg to vote no on Senate Bill 756 and any other legislation that includes the language from this dangerous bill.

Senate Bill 756 will impose the largest tax increase on small businesses and fraternal clubs in our state’s history, and it would also implement impossible regulatory red tape, jeopardizing the very existence of important veteran organizations.

Pennsylvania’s VFWs and American Legions, as well as other fraternal organizations across the Commonwealth, have relied on income from games of skill for about a decade. The benefits are real — revenue from these games has enabled organizations to update aging buildings, renovate meeting spaces, install new kitchen equipment, maintain staff, increase hours of operation, and donate to important charitable causes.

However, the unprecedented tax rate and unfeasible overregulation in Senate Bill 756 would make it impossible for our veteran organizations to continue benefiting from skill games. The bill would impose a crushing 35 percent additional tax on the games, with an effective rate of over 40 percent when including fees and other costs. The bill would also impose unreasonable limits on terminals, which would result in veteran organizations across the state losing their ability to offer the games and, consequently, earning critical, supplemental revenue.

Senate Bill 756 is the very definition of big government, oppressive taxation, and overregulation.

Veteran organizations have said that if this devastating bill passes, they will have to lay off employees, reduce hours of operation, or stop important programming and services. Many have stated in no uncertain terms that it could mean the closing of their posts for good.

Forcing the closure of our VFWs, American Legions, and other fraternal clubs would hurt not only our veterans but the entire community. Many of these clubs’ primary mission is to raise funds for charitable endeavors, including sponsoring local Little League teams, providing backpacks and school supplies to children in need, organizing toy drives for the holidays, and numerous other community-driven initiatives.

Veteran groups use the revenue they generate to support their veteran community. It is not debatable that the suicide rate amongst veterans is alarmingly high, and services to provide counseling are costly and too few. These clubs provide support to our veterans, and these posts serve as a beacon where current and former military can feel safe and welcome to open up with others who have similar experiences.

The bottom line is that we must do better for our veterans.

It seems that the majority of legislators agree that some form of regulation is necessary for skill games. A framework is needed to help ensure that only legal games of skill are available in establishments, and we need to focus on reducing the number of illegal machines operating across the state. But this must be done the right way.

We need a solution that does not tax and regulate skill games out of existence. They have served as a lifeline for our small businesses, volunteer fire companies, fraternal clubs, and veterans.

As budget negotiations continue, lawmakers cannot make a rash decision on skill games. Especially if it means jeopardizing important community support for our veterans.

Some legislators would rather tax Pennsylvanians to the hilt than implement necessary spending cuts to balance the budget. They would rather overregulate an industry and pick winners and losers than trust the free market and consumers to make voluntary decisions. While Democratic politicians routinely propose bigger government, sometimes my Republican colleagues do, too, and I call them out on it.

I was elected on a commitment to fight for government transparency, against wasteful spending and taxation, and for fair policies that serve the interests of our citizens and taxpayers.

Protecting our Pennsylvania veterans from the overreach of government, as currently proposed in Senate Bill 756, is, without a doubt, what is right.

It’s a tale as old as time in Harrisburg. But for those who read about skill games for the first time an obvious question often remains; how is this different from gambling?

In simplest terms, skill games are interactive, where, with hand-eye coordination and a little intellectual acuity, the player can affect the outcome on every play. Games can be won by the player’s own skill. On the other hand, casino and lottery games are won by chance. The player has no input as to the spin of the slots, the roll of the dice, the cards dealt or when the roulette wheel stops.  The outcome is pre-programmed.

Skill games are not found in glitzy casinos. Skill games are specifically designed to provide supplemental income to small businesses. They’re found in our neighborhood convenience stores, our American Legions, our VFW posts, volunteer fire companies and local taverns.

The story of skill games and the casino and lottery industry is, quite literally, David vs. Goliath.

David seeks to make a living. With the help of skill games – and his customers who must be present in his establishment to play them – he put a new roof on his legion post this year, or maybe he repaired the floor in his banquet hall, or he provided his employees with health benefits for the first time. Through legislation that I sponsored, David himself even asks to be taxed and regulated so this industry can operate safely and responsibly.

Goliath operates a $6 billion per year industry out of his multi-million-dollar structures. He houses thousands of players, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year and his games are also available to play remotely on a cell phone at any time of day or night, by players of any age.

Goliath’s industry supporters are readily recognizable. They are those who simplistically lump all machines outside of casinos together as “skill games,” simply based on the appearance of the cabinetry. It seems that understanding why legal skill games are different would require thoughtful effort, which is not part of Goliath’s script. Instead, his casino mouthpiece echoes a tired, deliberately misleading diatribe ignoring both the facts and the law.

The only games that have generated court decisions and definitions of “skill games” are Pennsylvania Skill games developed by Pace-O-Matic (POM). For whatever reason, this company’s games were targeted as illegal by certain law enforcement. However, after an unbroken series of favorable court decisions, including a unanimous decision by the Commonwealth Court, it was made clear that the games and software developed by POM are predominately based on skill and not chance. This is a major difference which Goliath neglects or refuses to recognize.

Goliath has touted record earnings quarter after quarter, year after year. Yet, he cries that the sky is falling because skill games are taking his money – a claim that is simply unfounded. It’s all too easy to ignore facts and logic when corporate greed is at stake.

Competition is not the issue. Greed is the issue. Once again, the people who operate small businesses are relying on David to protect their interests. It’s time to stop letting Goliath’s rhetoric drown out the truth.

These days, it’s easy to put a spin on something and pedal it as if it is the undisputed truth.

Take legal skill games, for example. Fear-mongering arguments pushed by the Pennsylvania Lottery and casino industry take great efforts to ignore both the facts and the law.

A recent Pennlive editorial claimed, “Gambling in Pennsylvania needs the strong oversight only casinos can guarantee.” PennLive’s Editorial Board apparently is of the opinion that the lottery should be run by casinos.

What I hope might finally put an end to the false narratives is legislation I have introduced to regulate and tax skill games – establishing stringent rules for operating the games, generating an estimated $250 million annually in state taxes and ridding Pennsylvania of the growing scourge of illegal video gambling terminals.

Opponents of skill games always fail to mention the regulatory framework put forth in my legislation and the many court decisions declaring games of skill legal in Pennsylvania.

During recent state budget hearings, the lottery claimed skill games impact their revenue. In reality, the Pennsylvania Lottery has hit record profits of more than $1 billion for 11 consecutive years.

A study by respected economist and Villanova University professor Peter Zaleski, and commissioned by skill games technology company Pace-O-Matic, discovered the five-year growth rate of lottery sales before skill games entered the state market – from 2010-2015 – was 4.5 percent.

For the five-year period of 2016-2021, when people were playing legal skill games, the lottery growth rate increased to 5.1 percent. The findings also showed lottery sales are higher in Pennsylvania counties with a larger number of skill games. That data is echoed by location owners who say their lottery sales increased once they added the games.

Like the lottery, casinos are reporting record profits. Yet, they see a couple of skill games at a neighborhood establishment, like Zembies Sports Bar in Harrisburg, and they scream competition.

Why all the opposition to skill games? For the lottery and casinos, they don’t want even a whiff of what they perceive as competition. Sadly, they could not care less if their stance hurts the many small businesses, veterans’ groups, volunteer fire companies or other organizations that have come to rely on the supplemental income generated by legal skill games.

Casinos love to act as though they alone have dealt with age restrictions. Yet each day, bars and restaurants, as well as convenience and grocery stores, are responsible for selling tobacco and alcohol products exclusively to adults.

You already need to be 18 to play legal skill games in the state, but my legislation would codify that restriction into law and include a valid identification requirement for pay-out, protecting businesses and children alike. Meanwhile, lottery machines that don’t require person-to-person counter sales will continue to go essentially unmonitored in grocery and convenience stores.

Regarding child safety, instead of worrying about a few skill games, the casino industry should spend time on its crisis — making sure fewer children are left in cars in their parking lots. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board reports that from the start of 2022 through May 2023, there have been 370 incidents of adults leaving children unattended so they could gamble at Pennsylvania casinos. The incidents involved nearly 600 children.

Even though casinos and the lottery have experienced record earnings, it is clear people like to play skill games; they provide a different, unmet experience from casinos or the lottery. Perhaps that’s because some people want to play a game that requires some thinking and a learned skill and have an opportunity to win. Maybe players just get tired of scratching.

More importantly, while casino and lottery games can be played from virtually anywhere at any time on a cell phone, skill games require the player to come in the front door and play in-person, on the premises, where the game is located. If you want to know why this matters, just walk into a neighborhood market, a family-owned restaurant or a VFW. Skill games, unlike glitzy casinos, are neighborhood- and small business-oriented.

There is already plenty of public support for legal skill games.

We now must pass legislation that will provide accountability, regulation and enforcement of the games, along with tax money that benefits the state.

My bill is an opportunity to benefit small businesses, support community groups and increase state revenue. Opportunities like this don’t come along often.

It’s time to move beyond all the false rhetoric.

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