The Pennsylvania State Police have announced an arrest in connection with a $400,000 robbery involving PA skill games last month in Franklin County.
Alfredo Cardona-Padilla, 45, turned himself in to police over the weekend. Police are still looking for two other suspects involved in the crime.
The regulated industry has raised concerns over consumer protections and the business Pennsylvania skill games takes away from retail and PA online casinos.
And, crime in which skill games have been present has also been another major concern, which is why Philadelphia decided to ban the machines in corner stores and gas stations.
One arrest made in March PA skill games robbery
Cardona-Padilla is accused of robbing two security guards collecting cash boxes from Pennsylvania skill games at gunpoint on March 18. Cardona-Padilla and two other men reportedly stole more than $400,000 from the machines outside the Southgate Mall in Chambersburg.
The other two men in connection to the robbery have not yet been identified by the Pennsylvania State Police.
The three men fled the scene in a van and reportedly left numerous empty cash boxes on the side of the road.
Cardona-Padilla, now in custody without bail, faces the following felony charges:
- Robbery
- Aggravated assault
- Possession of a firearm prohibited
- Firearms not to be carried without a license
- Theft
Chambersburg burglary happens same week Philadelphia banned skill games
Philadelphia Councilmember Curtis Jones proposed a bill in January that would ban Pennsylvania skill games inside city gas stations and corner stores.
The bill did not have anything to do with Pennsylvania casinos, as the Committee on Public Safety controlled the legislation. The new law would hopefully eliminate crime where skill games had been present.
The bill passed through the process quickly, having received unanimous approval the same week of the Chambersburg crime. It forced Pace-O-Matic, a Georgia-based skill games manufacturer, to take legal action against the city.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker signed the bill into law last week, making the ban official. Parker said in a press conference:
“It is not okay to tempt our residents from low and moderate income neighborhoods with opportunities to gamble away their hard-earned dollars.
“It is not okay to give children purchasing candy an opportunity to gamble with their lunch money.
“It is not okay to create situations where those who are interested in mugging Philadelphians literally wait outside of gas stations in the middle of residential areas to rob people of money that they won.”
Only Philadelphia establishments with a valid Commonwealth license to sell alcohol and have 30 seats or more are able to offer Pennsylvania skill games.
The occurrence in Chambersburg is exactly why Philadelphia felt it needed to take action to protect the community.
