Pace-O-Matic of Pennsylvania (POM) has filed an amended complaint in Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court. The complaint outlines “the coordinated corruption between state and local government agencies on behalf of actors in the private casino industry, who identified themselves as ‘Team Casino.’”
Part of the complaint requests that the court issue an order that will keep the Bureau of Liquor Control & Enforcement (BLCE) and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) from publicly and privately declaring POM’s skill games illegal.
Company Chief Public Affairs Officer Mike Barley further laid out the motivation behind filing the complaint and noted that this has been an ongoing issue for the company.
He said, “Over the course of nearly seven years, at the behest and with financial support provided by the private casino industry, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB), the Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, and the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office have engaged in a coordinated campaign to attack and undermine the standing of POM’s legal Pennsylvania Skill games.
“With the urging and coaching of actors representing the private casino industry, the state government ignored and/or purposefully misrepresented the law, court decisions, and basic elements of how our skill games operate in a coordinated, yet desperate, attempt to reputationally harm POM’s ability to operate a legal product in Pennsylvania.”
Barley went on to say that the company believes regulators have not functioned the way they were intended to when it comes to the private casino industry.
He said in closing, “While the PGCB was created to oversee the private casino industry, their actions show they are wholly owned subsidiary of the industry they are intended to oversee.
“The BLCE is meant to interpret the law as written and respect court opinions, yet time and time again they took their orders from the private casino industry and ran a targeted campaign to harm the Pennsylvania small businesses and fraternal clubs who operate our skill games and rely on the supplemental revenue these games generate, as well as intimidate players from using our legal products.”
