Pennsylvania casinos owners petition court to impose tax on skill games
The recent lawsuit, which features Caesars and Penn, contends that taxing casinos slots but not skill games is unconstitutional.
Owners of 12 Pennsylvania casinos have filed a lawsuit to petition the court to “declare that a tax on slot machine revenue is unconstitutional,” according to an Associated Press report.
Some of the owners involved include Caesars Entertainment and Penn Entertainment.
Casino owners around the state oppose the tax because it does not currently apply to cash-paying electric game terminals that are available in bars and stores, otherwise known as skill games.
Currently, the state collects close to 54% in taxes on casino revenue generated from slot machines.
Owners said in the suit, “There is no basis for requiring licensed entities to pay about half of their slot machine revenue to the Commonwealth while allowing unlicensed entities to pay no tax on such revenue.”
The commonwealth has previously considered these games “unlicensed gambling machines that are operating illegally and subject to seizure by police.”
Other states that are discussing the legality of skill games and whether to allow them within their borders include Texas and Kentucky.
The city of Virginia Beach began enforcing Virginia’s statewide ban on skill games. The ban was reinstated last fall.
Virginia first passed a law banning skill game kiosks during 2020. However, the restriction was lifted at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic to provide “desperately needed revenue for small businesses.”
The American Gaming Association estimates that there are nearly 67,000 skill game terminals in the state of Pennsylvania, the highest of any state.
Pennsylvania’s Department of Revenue declined the Associated Press’ request for comment on the lawsuit. However, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said it “just learned of lawsuit and was evaluating it.”
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