Pennsylvania Skill-Games Update: Five Bills, Zero Votes, New AG Warning

Pennsylvania’s skill-games package just got more concrete. Rep. Russ Diamond’s proposal, previously circulating only as a co-sponsorship memo, was formally introduced on September 24 as HB 2801 and HB 2802. That brings the state’s total to five numbered skill-games bills — HB 2213, HB 2557, HB 2801, HB 2802, and SB 1079 — spread across three committees with zero votes on any of them, and 14 calendar days left before the October 13 enforcement deadline.

HB 2801 sets a 20% tax on skill-game revenue, caps machines at five per location, and confines them to clubs, bars, and truck stops. HB 2802 is the companion bill funding property-tax relief for homeowners — at least $702 a year for Pennsylvania’s 2.87 million qualified households.

Also new today: Attorney General Dave Sunday issued the state’s most direct enforcement warning yet, naming criminal charges explicitly for businesses that don’t remove noncompliant machines by October 13, with enforcement framed as beginning October 14.

Chicago VGT licensing remains unchanged: 65 state-approved locations, 287 pending applications, and zero city licenses issued — despite Bally’s halting major construction at its $1.7 billion River West casino in August over the city’s video-gaming push.