Pa Slot Machines In Bars
Introduction to Pennsylvania Slot Machine Casino Gambling in 2020
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In an effort to stamp out the estimated 40,000 illegal VGTs operating in Pennsylvania bars, restaurants, and social clubs, state lawmakers considered legalizing, regulating and taxing the machines. However, they settled on authorizing VGTs at truck stops only, as a part of the gambling expansion law passed in October 2017. Rivers Casino: Slot machines - See 847 traveler reviews, 63 candid photos, and great deals for Pittsburgh, PA, at Tripadvisor. Pennsylvania House lawmakers are moving ahead Wednesday with an expansion of gambling that includes slots-like video gaming terminals in bars, an element that wasn't included a version passed.
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. That makes them different from, for example, the video poker games or slots machines in the back rooms of some private clubs and bars that police have battled for years.
Pennsylvania slot machine casino gambling consists of twelve casinos of which six are pari-mutuel racetracks with slot machines, four are standalone casinos, and two are casino resorts.
Pennsylvania has both minimum and maximum theoretical payout limits. Return statistics are publicly available online.
This post continues my weekly State-By-State Slot Machine Casino Gambling Series, an online resource dedicated to guiding slot machine casino gambler to success. Now in its third year, each weekly post reviews slots gambling in a single U.S. state, territory, or federal district.
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Relevant Legal Statutes on Gambling in Pennsylvania*
The minimum legal gambling age in Pennsylvania depends upon the gambling activity:
- Land-Based Casinos: 21
- Poker Rooms: 21
- Bingo: 18
- Lottery: 18
- Pari-Mutuel Wagering: 18
In 2004, the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act passed. This Act legalized slot machines at fourteen locations. Of these locations, gaming licenses have yet to be issued for a standalone casino and a pari-mutuel racetrack with slot machines.
Since July 2010, table games are in Pennsylvania casinos.
In October 2017, the state legislature legalized casino gambling at truck stops, airports, and online. This bill also authorized ten new satellite casinos with location restrictions.
- Satellite casinos of existing casino operators must be within 25 miles of their existing Pennsylvania casino. Further, local municipalities may prohibit such a casino. These satellite casino licenses allow up to 750 slot machines and 50 table games.
- Racetracks and standalone casinos can have up to 5,000 slot machines and 250 table games, while casino resorts can have up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games. Truck stops approved by their county may have up to 5 slot machines.
Casino operators may operate a gambling parlor at any of Pennsylvania’s international and regional airports, assuming successful agreements with the airport authority. None have yet opened, but expected in 2020.
To gamble within a casino resort, players must be a guest there. Put another way, the gaming floors within the casino resorts are not open to the public.
*The purpose of this section is to inform the public of state gambling laws and how the laws might apply to various forms of gaming. It is not legal advice.
Slot Machine Private Ownership in Pennsylvania
It is legal to own a slot machine privately in the state of Pennsylvania if it is 25 years old or older.
Gaming Control Board in Pennsylvania
The state gaming commission is the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB). The PGCB is responsible for overseeing slot machines and casino gambling in the state.
Two different state gaming commissions are each responsible for the state lottery and charitable gaming.
Casinos in Pennsylvania
There are two casino resorts, four standalone casinos, and six racetracks with slot machines in Pennsylvania.
The largest casino in Pennsylvania is Parx Casino with 3,238 gaming machines during the last week of January 2020.
The second-largest casino is Wind Creek Bethlehem with 3,046 gaming machines during the last week of January 2020.
Commercial Casinos in Pennsylvania
The two casino resorts in Pennsylvania are:
- Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, 69 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
- Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia, 21 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
The four standalone casinos in Pennsylvania are:
- Mount Airy Casino Resort Spa in Mount Pocono, 31 miles southeast of Scranton.
- Rivers Casino Philadelphia, 3 miles northeast of the downtown area.
- Rivers Casino Pittsburgh in the downtown cultural center.
- Wind Creek Bethlehem, 58 miles north of Philadelphia.
The six pari-mutuel racetracks with slot machines in Pennsylvania are:
- Harrah’s Philadelphia in Chester, 18 miles southwest of Philadelphia.
- Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in Grantville, 17 miles northeast of the capital of Harrisburg.
- Mohegan Sun Pocono in Wilkes-Barre, 15 miles southwest of Scranton.
- Parx Casino in Bensalem, 19 miles northeast of Philadelphia.
- Presque Isle Downs & Casino in Erie, 126 miles north of Pittsburgh.
- The Meadows Casino Racetrack Hotel in Washington, 26 miles south-southwest of Pittsburgh.
Tribal Casinos in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania has no federally-recognized American Indian tribes. Therefore, Pennsylvania has no tribal casinos as allowed by the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1989.
However, Pennsylvania is one of the few U.S. states with commercial casinos owned and operated by an American Indian tribe:
- Mohegan Sun Pocono is owned and operated by the Mohegan Indian Tribe of Connecticut through their Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment corporation.
- Wind Creek Bethlehem is owned and operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians through their Wind Creek Hospitality corporation.
Other Gambling Establishments
As an alternative to enjoying Pennsylvania slot machine casino gambling, consider exploring casino options in a nearby state. Bordering Pennsylvania is:
- North: New York Slots and Lake Erie
- East: New Jersey Slots
- South: Delaware Slots, Maryland Slots, and West Virginia Slots
- West: Ohio Slots
Each of the links above will take you to my blog for that neighboring U.S. state to Pennsylvania.
Our Pennsylvania Slots Facebook Group
Are you interested in sharing and learning with other slots enthusiasts in Pennsylvania? If so, join our new Pennsylvania slots community on Facebook. All you’ll need is a Facebook profile to join this closed Facebook Group freely.
There, you’ll be able to privately share your slots experiences as well as chat with players about slots gambling in Pennsylvania. Join us!
Payout Returns in Pennsylvania
The theoretical payout minimum for slot machines in Pennsylvania is 85%. Further, the maximum theoretical payout limit may not equal or exceed 100%. Both limits apply to each single play.
The PGCB makes monthly return statistics publicly available for Fiscal Year 2019/2020 for each gaming facility. To calculate player win%, divide payouts by wagers provided in each report.
For February 2020, the player win% at slots for each casino and statewide were:
- Harrah’s: 89.47%
- Hollywood: 89.38%
- Mohegan Sun: 89.63%
- Mount Airy: 90.35%
- Nemacolin: 89.18%
- Parx: 90.43%
- Presque Isle: 89.43%
- Rivers Philadelphia: 90.49%
- Rivers Pittsburgh: 89.68%
- The Meadows: 90.11%
- Valley Forge: 90.25%
- Wind Creek: 89.98%
- Statewide: 89.97%
For February 2020, the highest player win% went to Rivers Philadelphia at 90.49%, followed closely by Parx and Mount Airy. The lowest player win% went to Nemacolin at 89.18% followed closely by Hollywood Penn National and Presque Isle.
Summary of Pennsylvania Slot Machine Casino Gambling in 2020
Pennsylvania slot machine casino gambling consists of two casino resorts, four standalone casinos, and six racetracks with slot machines. Other locations should still open in 2020.
The theoretical payout limits are a minimum of 85% and a maximum of up to 100%. Monthly return statistics by casino are available online from the state gaming control board.
Annual Progress in Pennsylvania Slot Machine Casino Gambling
In the last year, the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem became Wind Creek Bethlehem, acquired by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians through their Wind Creek Hospitality corporation for $1.3 billion.
Otherwise, there have been numerous casino name changes including:
- Lady Luck Nemacolin became Nemacolin Woodlands Resort.
- Valley Forge Convention Center Casino became Valley Forge Casino Resort.
- Mount Airy Resort & Casino became Mount Airy Casino Resort Spa.
- Sugar House Casino became Rivers Casino Philadelphia.
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By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl, LLC
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Top Republicans in Pennsylvania’s state Senate are pressing sweeping gambling legislation that would allow slot machine-like terminals in thousands of bars, restaurants, nonprofit social clubs and other businesses that hold liquor licenses.
The legislation could deliver new gambling tax dollars to a state treasury hurting from stay-at-home and shutdown orders issued by Gov. Tom Wolf to fight the spread of the coronavirus.
It also seeks to banish thousands of unregulated cash-paying “skill” game terminals from a wide array of establishments in Pennsylvania, including laundromats, pizza parlors, grocery stores, corner stores and bowling alleys, that do not have liquor licenses.
No Senate vote had been scheduled as of Tuesday as Senate Republican leaders worked to build enough support for it to pass. The bill is opposed by two erstwhile adversaries: casino owners in the nation’s No. 2 commercial casino state and Georgia-based Pace-O-Matic, maker of the software in most common skill terminals, marketed as Pennsylvania Skill games.
Pennsylvania Slot Machines In Bars
Wolf, a Democrat, is taking a dim view of it, warning in a statement from his office that state programs already fed by a “multitude” of legal gambling options, from slot machines in casinos to online lottery games, could lose dollars. He opposes the bill in its current form, his office said Tuesday.
Under a draft amendment, more than 10,000 bars, restaurants, hotels, golf course clubhouses and nonprofit social clubs with liquor licenses could install the so-called video gaming terminals, or VGTs. Counties that host casinos and municipalities could still vote to keep the machines out.
Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman, R-Centre, framed the bill not necessarily as an expansion of gambling, but as a way to get forms of unregulated gambling under control.
“The overall goal is to bring into the light the tens of thousands of unregulated games of skill and VGT devices that are out there in Pennsylvania today,” Corman said Tuesday.
Senate Republican budget analysts projected that taxing the VGTs could yield $200 million to $250 million a year, Corman said.
A major trade association for bars and restaurants, the Pennsylvania Licensed Beverage and Tavern Association, is asking its members to contact senators to support it.
The bill comes as distributors of VGTs — including executives from Golden Entertainment Inc. of Las Vegas — and Pennsylvania Skill games are giving tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to lawmakers and political organizations.
A political action committee backed by a Williamsport-based coin-op machine distributor, Miele Manufacturing, which assembles Pennsylvania Skill games, has given more than $100,000 to lawmakers and political committees going back to last year.
Pa Slot Machines In Bars Near Me
Wolf, at least, might be sympathetic to banishing the skill games: His administration has accused the proliferating skill machines of siphoning more than $200 million in revenue last year from the Pennsylvania Lottery.
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While the bill might leave legal room for Pace-O-Matic games in licensed-liquor establishments, the company sees it as a death knell.
“We can’t compete with them,” spokesman Michael Barley said. “Their games are flashier, more appealing. They look like things you would find in a brick-and-mortar casino. ... Our games are slower, more methodical.”
Pa Slot Machines In Bars
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