For the past five years, Pennsylvania State Senator Gene Yaw has been working with small businesses, veterans’ organizations, and the skill game industry to develop a fair regulatory and taxation framework for legal skill games. The result is Senate Bill 626, which aims to protect these organizations from high taxes, ensure proper regulation by the state, and equip law enforcement with tools to combat illegal gambling.
Senate Bill 626 has garnered significant support from taverns, convenience stores, social clubs, and veterans’ organizations that benefit financially from skill games. According to Sen. Yaw, “Skill games provide crucial supplemental income to these establishments. They are not slot machines.”
Legal precedent supports this distinction; eleven court decisions have confirmed that skill games are legal and outside the jurisdiction of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. In contrast to slot machines governed by chance through algorithms, skill games rely on players’ decisions and mental acuity.
Despite this legal standing, other proposals in the Senate threaten the skill game industry with excessive taxation. While Senate Bill 626 suggests a 16% tax rate similar to table games, competing proposals suggest rates as high as 35% or even 52%. Sen. Yaw warns that such rates could destroy an industry composed of hundreds of small businesses: “The power to tax is the power to destroy.”
Overregulation poses another threat. Competing proposals misclassify skill games as gambling devices requiring burdensome operational changes that ignore their role in supporting small businesses.
Finally, placing regulatory authority under the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board raises concerns due to its history of opposing skill games. This agency has attempted to block license applications until stopped by a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling.
These efforts could harm veterans’ posts and local clubs relying on income from skill games. Sen. Yaw emphasizes that citizen engagement shows democracy at work: “When citizens raise their voices… it is a sign that democracy is alive and well.”
Senator Gene Yaw represents Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan, Tioga, and Union counties in Pennsylvania’s 23rd Senatorial District.
