<div>The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania determined on July 15 that skill games fit in the definition of slot machines. Operating such machines without a license is a criminal offense, according to the Gaming Act enacted in 2004.In an interview last month Meadville Police Chief Michael Stefanucci explained that the word “skill” was meant to be a distraction from what the games actually were, because if the game required skill, it wouldn’t technically be gambling.According to Stefanucci, the businesses that hosted these machines in Meadville have presented issues.“All of a sudden, these gambling parlors start showing up, where they’re not just in mom and pop stores anymore, like bars, they’re showing up in their own standalone businesses,” Stefanucci said. “They’re gambling halls that come with assaults, drugs, thefts. They’re pretty much an incubator of crime in these areas.”Stefanucci believes that those parlors tended to prey upon the most vulnerable people of society who were “down on their luck,” namely people with substance abuse or mental health problems.“It makes sense a lot of times. With addiction, you usually have no money because anytime you get money, it’s for drugs,” Stefanucci said. “Very rarely do you see anybody that has a good job and really their life together, sitting in one of these gambling halls at two, three in the morning.”The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision prohibiting the skill games in this state didn’t surprise Stefanucci.“For me, Meadville has a small-town type of vibe, and the neon signs and the gambling machines, is not a small-town vibe to me,” he said. “I’ve never liked them, It just seemed very inappropriate, so I wasn’t surprised to see the new law that was handed down by the Supreme Court, saying these are in fact illegal.”D.J. York, the owner of Julian’s Bar & Grill had similar things to say about skill games. Located at 299 Chestnut St. Julian’s has been in business for 13 years, and according to York, after one of the skill games parlors opened next door to the restaurant, he started to see patrons showing up frustrated after losing money on the games.“We’ve had some angry people show up here, order a drink, being angry on the phone, trying to get more money so that they could go back and gamble again,” York said. “I just don’t think that’s appropriate for our little downtown scene.”People smashing their feet through chairs and tipping over tables were some of the issues York saw happening in the outside area of his restaurant.York recalled an incident where a man who appeared homeless sat at one of the outside tables. The waitresses approached him. He didn’t want to order anything, but York said “he obviously looked hungry.”“I took him a bowl of soup thinking ‘here’s an opportunity to feed this guy,’” York said. “I put a bowl of soup down in front of him and I walked away. When I came back to check on him, he was trying to sell it to one of our customers for $5, so that he could take it back to the gambling spot.”Instead of vape shops and skill game parlors that have opened in Meadville, York wants to support other local businesses.“We don’t want to see anybody go under, but at the same time, I don’t want any more of what’s already happening. Between that and the vape shops, it’s taking over our town,” York said. “I’m all about being an entrepreneur, I completely understand trying to make money, but at what cost to the community?”York remembered how the parlor next door to with Julian’s used to be a karate studio for kids and prior to that, a store called Indigo which sold objects like energy stones and bracelets. That kind of downtown shopping brought a lot of business to Julian’s — they “fed off each other,” according to York.York said that the gambling machines as a whole aren’t necessarily his main issue. Instead, he was concerned about what he called “wide open casinos” — parlors with no supervision. In York’s opinion the machines would be best suited for bars or private clubs, where they can be properly supervised.“I wouldn’t even mind as much if it was on the outskirts of town, but it almost felt like they were preying on specifically CHAPS and The Arc and those. That’s not cool, man,” York said, referring to the Crawford County Mental Health Awareness Program and The Arc of Crawford County. “It just felt very gross.”According to The Pit Stop bar manager Bill Schreckengost, the skill game’s machines were a source of income the bar could count on and with the new laws, his business will be affected.“There’s a lot of things you’re not going to be able to get done,” Schreckengost said. “I have an ice machine down, without that income how do I fix it? That helped cover the cost of employees, insurance costs. Everything’s not cheap. So it’s definitely going to hurt pretty bad.”Pit Stop’s income is additionally suffering from a restriction on their current property that forces them to close their doors by 10:30 p.m. during the week and at 11:30 p.m. on the weekends, reportedly losing them a lot of business, especially from patrons that used to show up later at night the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board required a conditional licensing agreement for the bar, according to Schreckengost.“I’ve been fighting the past four months to get them lifted, so I can stay open at night. We have a license for food, which we can’t even use because of that. So that hurts,” Schreckengost said. “We didn’t realize when we came in here, so we were open till 2 (a.m.). Everything was great, doing wonderful and then PLCB came in and said, ‘Oh, by the way, you have to close, here’s a CLA on you.’”The bar leased nine machines from a distributor and split profits evenly. Without that added income, the bar has less money to spend on its mortgage and utilities and patrons cannot get a payout.According to Schreckengost his patrons are hurt and want to play. Schreckengost painted a very different picture of skill games players then Stefanucci.“I don’t really agree with that, we have all types of people playing,” Schreckengost. “From the people I know, they push some certain amount in, they stop. I’m sure it does affect a few people, but I think it’s over emphasized.”Schreckengost thinks that Pennsylvania will be negatively affected with the banning of the machines, which makes him believe that they will be back soon.“I think in about four months from now you’ll see them back, better only be in establishments with a liquor license,” he said.Schreckengost also commented on Gov. Josh Shapiro’s tax rate plan for skill games.“Pennsylvania itself is losing out on a lot of tax money. If they could just come together and set a tax, Shapiro wants 52%, which if that happens, they’ll never be back, because you couldn’t operate. Now, some of them, one got 20%, 16%, that would be great,” Schreckengost said. “You’re talking a couple billion for Pennsylvania, I’m sure they want that money and they will pass something.”Schreckengost is confident, regardless, that The Pit Stop will continue to stay in business.“We’ve been in business for 20 years, skill games haven’t been our life forever,” he said. “We just have to work through it. We’ve been through hard times before, and we don’t plan on closing.”</div>

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The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania determined on July 15 that skill games fit in the definition of slot machines. Operating such machines without a license is a criminal offense, according to the Gaming Act enacted in 2004. In an interview last month Meadville Police Chief Michael Stefanucci explained that the...

Skill game ban goes into effect

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The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania determined on July 15 that skill games fit in the definition of slot machines. Operating such machines without a license 

Skill game ban goes into effect

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