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A bipartisan group of seven Pennsylvania House lawmakers wants to regulate skill games and expand truck-stop video gaming terminals (VGTs), directing most of the resulting state revenue toward transportation and emergency services.
Rep. Danilo Burgos and six colleagues outlined the plan in a Sept. 30 co-sponsorship memo. Their proposal includes a $500 monthly terminal fee, statewide oversight, and player protections.
The legislation has not been introduced.
Roads, transit, and first responders would receive funding
The lawmakers propose dividing revenue as follows:
- 84% for roads, bridges, and public transportation
- 15% for fire and emergency medical services
- 1% for administration
Sponsors say the plan would also preserve the supplemental income that veterans’ organizations, volunteer fire companies, and small businesses earn from hosting skill games to help cover operating expenses.
The monthly fee follows an approach Burgos used in House Bill 2213, an earlier proposal that included the same $500 charge and a statewide limit of 50,000 terminals. The bill was referred to the House Gaming Oversight Committee in February and has not advanced since.
Proposal would add player protections and machine oversight
The proposed safeguards include a minimum playing age of 21, age verification, and self-exclusion. The memo also calls for licensing, machine testing, central monitoring, surveillance, independent audits, and enforcement against illegal machines.
Testing and oversight are already features of Pennsylvania’s licensed truck-stop VGT market. Under PGCB regulations, terminals must be tested and certified before players can use them.
Gaming areas must also be monitored by permitted employees who have completed mandatory training on compulsive and problem gambling.
For someone who wants to stop playing, the existing VGT self-exclusion program offers a way to voluntarily restrict access.
Participating establishments and operators must refuse wagers from players enrolled in the program and stop sending those individuals targeted advertising or promotions for VGT gambling.
Self-excluded players also cannot collect winnings or recover losses from VGT gambling during their exclusion period.
Enforcement deadline could affect access to skill games
The proposal arrives shortly before an Oct. 13 compliance deadline for businesses hosting unlicensed skill games.
Pennsylvania State Police issued a reminder on Oct. 5 that establishments possessing or operating those machines outside PGCB-licensed businesses face criminal prosecution and immediate seizure beginning Oct. 14.
The deadline follows the state Supreme Court’s June 15 ruling that skill games qualify as slot machines under Pennsylvania’s Gaming Act. State police say owning or operating the machines without a Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board license is a criminal offense.
Players who regularly use the devices at bars, social clubs, gas stations, or other neighborhood businesses could see them removed as establishments comply.
The lawmakers’ memo does not change that deadline or give businesses permission to continue offering unlicensed machines.
Licensed truck-stop VGTs remain a separate option
Pennsylvania already allows qualified, licensed truck stops to operate up to five video gaming terminals. Players must be at least 21, and the machines must have state approval.
Those licensed VGT locations are distinct from the unlicensed establishments covered by the enforcement deadline. A machine being available inside a business does not, by itself, establish that it is approved for play.
The memo does not specify how truck-stop eligibility or terminal limits would change under the proposed expansion.
Players looking for an approved truck-stop location can check the PGCB’s licensed VGT map, which lists facilities in the regulated market.
