When Gov. Ed Rendell first championed casino gambling in Pennsylvania more than two decades ago, the promise was straightforward: Regulated gaming would boost the economy, modernize the state’s entertainment industry, and create jobs. For years, it did exactly that.
But something went wrong along the way. Skill games, devices that look, sound, and function like slot machines, spread to thousands of bars, restaurants, gas stations, and clubs across Pennsylvania, completely unregulated and untaxed. Meanwhile, as brick-and-mortar casinos paid their fair share to the commonwealth and submitted to oversight from the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, skill game operators avoided both. The playing field wasn’t level.
