Pennsylvania Looks At A New Rule Set For Skill Games

Pennsylvania lawmakers are again weighing what to do with skill games, a segment that still sits outside the regulated gaming system. As reported by Play Pennsylvania, a new proposal from Ben Waxman would try a middle route by allowing regulation with player safeguards, local control, and state oversight.

Good to Know

• Skill games in Pennsylvania still operate outside the regulated gaming system.
• Ben Waxman is circulating a co-sponsorship memo, not a formal bill.
• The proposal would put the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in charge of centralized monitoring.

Pennsylvania Tries A Different Route On Skill Games

Before talking about taxes or location fees, the Waxman plan starts with player friction. Daily loss caps, mandatory breaks, slower play, and a ban on deceptive design are all part of the concept. Pennsylvania self-exclusion would also be extended to skill game players, pulling the machines closer to the same harm-reduction rules already used for online casinos and sportsbooks in the state.

That approach lands in the middle of a long-running fight. For years, lawmakers in Pennsylvania have gone back and forth over skill games without landing on a single answer. Some proposals leaned toward legalization and taxation. Others focused on fees. Some went the other way and called for a full ban. The sticking points have kept repeating: tax levels, oversight, and whether skill games should be treated more like slot machines.

What gives the new memo a different feel is the local angle. Municipalities would get the power to ban or restrict skill games inside their own borders. The memo also points toward limits, or even outright bans, for machines in gas stations and convenience stores. So the question would not only be whether Pennsylvania regulates the vertical, but also where the machines could still operate.

Right now, machines placed in bars, gas stations, and convenience stores keep running without state oversight. That gap has fueled clashes between the skill game sector, lawmakers, and licensed gaming operators. Waxman wants any legalized machines tied into a centralized monitoring system overseen by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, bringing the vertical into a structure closer to the one used for casino gaming.

Money is part of the proposal too, though not in the usual first-paragraph way. A portion of skill game revenue would be directed toward problem gambling treatment and prevention programs. As more gaming options spread across Pennsylvania, lawmakers have kept revisiting how responsible gambling programs should be funded.

Another point worth noting is timing. Nothing has been formally introduced yet. The memo is an opening step meant to gather support. Rep. Danilo Burgos has also introduced another bill this year that would generate fees, so Harrisburg is still looking at multiple paths rather than one unified plan.

Waxman framed the idea as a middle ground in the broader Pennsylvania skill games debate, with consumer protection at the center. He said: “If skill games are going to be regulated, they should be designed to minimize harm.”