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(The Center Square) – The last day of legality arrived Tuesday for an estimated 70,000 so-called “skill games” that were pulling in money at clubs and small businesses across Pennsylvania – and with it came the end of a job for at least some people.
Ralph Elia, who operates four bars in Berks County in the southeastern part of the state, was among what was expected to be a significant number of small business owners who would be forced to let employees go. The electronic games – ruled this year to be illegal slot machines by the state Supreme Court – were bringing in 80% of the net revenue at some of his locations.
Elia said he had no choice but to cut well over 10 employees, a number of whom are single mothers.
“It’s awful. I am stressed out. I am not sleeping at night,” he said of the experience of laying off workers.
Variations on that story were playing out across the state after the court determined in June that the devices were illegal but put a 120-day stay on its ruling. The intent was to give the Pennsylvania Legislature and Gov. Josh Shapiro time to come up with a new law to regulate and tax at least some of the machines, but a deal was not reached.
A state police statement issued Tuesday said that after the deadline passes, the agency would be “prepared to act” against organizations that continue to operate the machines. Possible actions, it said, might include seizure of profits or the devices themselves, and possible filing of criminal charges.
The agency also said it has designated storage locations for machines that are hauled away by its troopers.
At Wagner-Good VFW Post 216 in Hamburg in northern Berks County, longtime manager Jennifer Naftzinger said the post had three of the “skill games” removed last week. The revenue, she said, will be missed because it “took care of all those nice little extras.”
For instance, she said, “I put the new barstools on hold.”
The effects could go beyond the nonprofit VFW, she said.
Each year, the post sponsors Memorial Day and Veterans Day observances in the community, and it buys large U.S. flags to decorate the downtown. The budget for all those things could be reduced because of the loss of skill games revenue, Naftzinger said.
She blamed politicians in Harrisburg.
“If I ran a business they way they do, we wouldn’t be here,” Naftzinger said.
At least one state lawmaker, Philadelphia Democratic Rep. Danilo Burgos, said this week that efforts were still being made to come up with a solution to the skill games logjam. But many lawmakers are focused on the general election three weeks from Tuesday, when some of their jobs will be on the line.
Beyond that, both the House and the Senate have only five scheduled voting days left before the two-year session comes to an end.
Elia had to have at least 19 machines removed from his businesses. It appeared to him that lawmakers and the governor had done very little to help small businesses.
He is closing at least some of his locations.
“What we are not going to do is run businesses that lose. I am just going to shut them down and stop the bleeding,” Elia said. Concerning jobs, he said, “I tried to help as many people as I could, for as long as I could.”