- Pennsylvania Skill Slot Machine
- Pa Skill Slot Machines News
- Pennsylvania Skill Slot Machine Directions
- Pennsylvania Skill Slot Machine
- Pennsylvania Skill Slot Machines
Pace-O-Matic’s Pennsylvania Skill machines require players to change a character to match three-in-a-row on a tic-tac-toe board or recall the order of certain patterns, among other mini-games.
Skill-based gaming is nothing new. It debuted in Atlantic City and Las Vegas around five years ago to mixed success.
However, skill slots are currently the hottest thing in Pennsylvania’s gaming market. Numerous people are playing these slots at bars, convenience stores, restaurants, and other types of businesses.
A PA skill game works a little differently from a regular slot machine. Assuming you’d like to know more about these games, you can learn about them below.
How Does a Pennsylvania Skill Slot Machine Work?
A Pennsylvania skill game looks and plays very similar to a regular slot machine. You begin playing these games by inserting your money into the terminal.
Next, you spin the reels and hope to line up matching symbols in paylines. Most of these games show how much each winning combinations pays through a pay table on the side.
Again, you can see that these games aren’t much different from standard slots. But each can differ from the next regarding the skill element.
Here are various examples on how these slots incorporate skill:
- A pre-reveal mechanism that allows you to see if you’ll win or lose the next spin.
- You must touch wild and/or scatter symbols to activate them.
- Skill-based bonus rounds.
Starting with the first option, pre-reveal slot machines first gained infamy in Florida. They give you an option, or force you, to see if the upcoming round will be a winner or loser.
Knowing the result of the spin enables you to determine whether it’s worth playing. Normally, though, you can only see the result of a single spin.
The second feature, where you touch certain symbols to activate them, doesn’t really bring much skill into the fold. It simply introduces a manual element to the game.
Finally, skill-based bonus rounds can see you do all sorts of things. One example is a memory game, where the slot shows you a series of flashing dots.
At first, you’ll have an easier time remember which dots flash. But these games get tougher and tougher as more dots flash and really test your memory skills.
How Do Skill Games Differ From Regular Slot Machines?
A skill slot machine looks and plays much like standard real money slots. You probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two under most circumstances.
However, PA skill games feature more action than just spinning the reels. As described before, they see you doing everything from tapping symbols to playing fun bonuses.
Pace-O-Matic, one of the biggest manufacturers of such terminals, designs these games in a specific manner so as to avoid the normal gambling distinction.
After all, convenience stores, laundry mats, and bars can’t just offer a regular slot machine without a license. But they can feature a skill-based terminal without breaking laws—at least for now anyways.
These machines also give you more influence over the results. You might not be able to use your abilities to control 100% of the outcomes. However, you may have the ability to control approximately 3% of the action through skill.
The companies that develop PA skill slots aren’t required to divulge return to player (RTP). Their operators don’t need to offer this information either.
This aspect heavily differs from the regulated Pennsylvania gambling market. Land-based casinos must work with gaming regulators and offer RTP figures.
In What Ways Are Skill and Regular Slots the Same?
These games may offer the promise of skill-based gaming. In the end, though, they aren’t much different than standard slot machines.
Both use random number generators to determine the bulk of the results. Your odds of winning heavily rely on the luck associated with each spin.
For example, a PA skill slot might feature 90% RTP on the spins alone. But it would give you the ability to influence another 5% of the RTP through a bonus round.
With expert play, you could bump the payback up to 95%. Of course, this figure doesn’t differ much from casino slots, which typically offer between 90% and 95% payback.
Another similarity is the fact that the house wins in both cases. Some players mistakenly believe that they can win guaranteed profits if they play a skill-based game just right.
The truth, though, is that they don’t have any better chance of winning at a convenience store than they do a casino. The skill aspect is mostly an illusion that’s designed to float Pennsylvania gambling laws.
Of course, you can always get lucky with a skill-based or regular slot machine and win the jackpot. You’ll be relying on luck to win in both cases, though.
Skill Slots Are Quite Controversial
PAIG also takes exception to the fact that these games aren’t regulated. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board doesn’t have any jurisdiction over the makers or operators of skill terminals.
Furthermore, the bars, convenience stores, and restaurants that offer these machines don’t pay additional taxes. They only cover standard income taxes on profits.
Contrast this situation to the state’s 12 land-based casinos. Each must pay a licensing fee to operate along with a 54% tax rate on revenue.
This 54% rate makes Pennsylvania one of the toughest markets for earning casino gaming profits. Meanwhile, skill-based operators gain a competitive advantage by paying far less in taxes.
Will Pennsylvania Ban These Slot Machines?
PAIG has made some headway in bringing light to the hypocrisy surrounding skill-based gaming. The group is drawing more attention to their mission of getting these games shut down.
Police in certain Pennsylvania jurisdictions have seized these terminals during crackdowns on illegal gambling. Pace-O-Matic responded with a lawsuit against the Bureau of Liquor Control and Enforcement.
As of now, the two sides are embroiled in a murky legal battle where nobody has tasted victory yet. In January 2020, a Commonwealth Court judge ruled that Pennsylvania State Police can seize skill-based games while the matter is being decided in court.
This ruling doesn’t mean that authorities will seize relevant terminals all over the Keystone State. Instead, it just lifts a ban on the practice of doing so as law enforcement sees fit.
State police argue that the skill-based machines are only a small part of their crackdown on illegal gambling. They’ve only seized a few dozen of the 20,000 skill games operating throughout the state.
For this reason, the Commonwealth Judge saw no reason to ban such seizures. Of course, the games will be given back if Pace-O-Matic wins its case.
Neither side has presented a compelling argument on why these terminals should or shouldn’t be legal. But Florida might provide a preview on what will happen with this case.
The Sunshine State had a problem with pre-reveal slot machines running rampant throughout its borders. The Seminole Tribe, which holds a gambling pact with Florida, argued that pre-reveal games violated its agreement with the state.
After careful consideration, a judge decided to ban these machines. They ruled that pre-reveal slots fall under the definition of illegal gambling.
Pennsylvania doesn’t have a tribal gaming pact with any Native American tribes. However, it does have a licensed gambling market with 12 casinos.
The state may ultimately rule against Pace-O-Matic to preserve its good relationship with the licensed gambling establishments.
Conclusion
A PA skill slot differs slightly from casino terminals by including some element of skill. “Some” is the key word here, though, because these games don’t give you a true chance to overcome the house edge.
You might be able to influence 5% of the RTP through your abilities. But if the base RTP is 91%, you can only achieve up to 96% RTP.
Skill-based slots remain a mixed bag. They include different elements than a standard slot, but they’re also somewhat deceiving in how much control they give you over results.
PAIG is currently fighting against these terminals and believe that they constitute illegal gaming. The jury is out, though, on if these games will ultimately be outlawed.
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I saw one of these in a bar last night for the first time but didn't play. Anyone know anything about them? Are they fairly new? Did a law change to allow this type of machine in bars?
I know this because they tried to get away with it in Ohio, and if you watch the videos on the site linked in the OP, you will see what I mean.
If you hit two of something, (you need three for a line) or two of multiple things, the game will either occasionally or always give you thirty seconds to make a spot Wild. Do not make a losing combination Wild, that is the, 'Skill Element.' If you make a losing combination Wild, then you will lose. You could also make a non-Optimal (but winning) combination Wild by not making the highest paying combination Wild.
In other words, the skill factor is to understand the implications (pays) of one number being bigger than another and to choose your Wild spot in such a way that you get paid the biggest number.
It's a slot machine that can essentially be only played non-optimally if you're an idiot, at least, most of the time. Occasionally, you might have the choice between Free Games or a high-paying combination that might be a head-scratcher since you don't know what the average value of Free Games are.
Anyway, what should define a, 'Skill-Game,' and in most states does, is that the, 'Skill Component,' be such that a player would have a reasonable and long-term expectation of winning if the game is played Optimally. That is not going to be the case on these machines.
Another one that Ohio had (that I don't know if these guys have) is one where you can look at the, 'Next Puzzle,' ahead of time. Basically, you look at the, 'Next Puzzle,' and you only bet if you know you'll win and that was the, 'Skill Component.' What you were really doing is effectively betting on the puzzle after that, which you knew nothing about, and most players just played it like a regular slot machine without looking at the, 'Next Puzzle,' ahead of time anyway.
'Legal' in PA because the PLCB is short staffed and way behind on enforcement. My advice to bar owners is be cautious. Vending operators are pushing these now because they haven't been busted yet, but by no means has the state ruled that they are 'legal' in PA. For most bar owners the fines and risk of license suspensions are not worth it but there are always a few small out of way bars willing to try it.
Lets test some out in your bar. We can negotiate a fair deal.'Legal' in PA because the PLCB is short staffed and way behind on enforcement. My advice to bar owners is be cautious. Vending operators are pushing these now because they haven't been busted yet, but by no means has the state ruled that they are 'legal' in PA. For most bar owners the fines and risk of license suspensions are not worth it but there are always a few small out of way bars willing to try it.
That's kind of the point that I was making, and the states are always behind the 8-Ball on these kinds of things. Like I said, these sorts of things are legal until they are not, which basically is when they are decided not to be skill games.
As far as any product placement is concerned, I wouldn't be willing to pay a lot for them, but I think a lot comes down to how friendly you are with your jurisdictional guys and how much heat your area draws in general. In Pennsylvania, for instance, you always see the Cherry Master units which, almost unfailingly, are labeled, 'For Amusement Only,' but actual cash gets paid out at several locations. In some cases, it's a matter of whether or not you are a known person there, and in others, they just let everyone play them and print tickets. You've got restaurants where cops eat, bars where cops drink, and they all just let it go. Kickbacks? Sometimes, but most places with the Cherry Master only have one or two units, anyway.
I would not say it is limited to out of the way bars, the Cherry Masters are absolutely NOT legal and are not even arguably a game of skill, but I could give you several locations in Pittsburgh (mostly the 'burbs, but hardly, 'Out of the way,') and I'll even venture forth on Monday and take pictures if you don't believe me.
Pennsylvania Skill Slot Machine
Pa Skill Slot Machines News
This place wasn't a club bar though.
FWIW I see pull tab machines all the time in PA, but always at private club bars which have a different set of rules. The liquor laws in PA are stupid.
This place wasn't a club bar though.
Pennsylvania Skill Slot Machine Directions
The Cherry Masters I have seen are not, 'Pull tab machines,' I don't think, and have certainly not always been at private clubs. Hell, not even all the places I have seen them have some form of alcohol or another.
Pennsylvania Skill Slot Machine
Pennsylvania Skill Slot Machines
As for the Cherry Master machines, they are absolutely illegal when they have a 'knockdown' device on them to clear and pay credits. But that does not stop some bars, and also many ethic grocery stores from having them. It's all about risk to reward and also a willingness to gamble on not getting busted. The larger more profitable bars will not risk having them for multiple reasons including potential tax issues if busted, suspension of license and just the hassle of the clientele they bring. In PA in most cases you will find them in a smoker corner neighborhood bar when the owner knows most of the customers and doesn't have food or higher margin craft beers to help pay the bills.
As for the potential of state run VP in bars, several bills have been introduced in the State House. Most face immediate objections from the casino lobby due to fear of competition. But with the state continuing to try and find new revenue sources I believe it will happen in the future. Some bar owners are already are working on plans based on the outline of options in the bills. It would be 100% state run with approved vendors placing the machines (between 5 & 10) in bars and restaurants with liquor licenses. This seems similar to a route in Vegas placing machines in bars. All machines would be linked to a state computer and the bar would never touch cash. A TITO machine would be placed in each location. The proposed split naturally favors the state but there is potential for the vendors and bar owners.