Let’s Tax Games of Skill — Right Here, Right Now

I’ve spoken with leaders across Pennsylvania about an issue nearly every community is dealing with: PA Games of Skill machines.

Some communities that already have a Business Privilege Tax use that tool to collect revenue from these devices. But others, including ours, do not—and under state law, can’t adopt one now.

That leaves us with one clear path: the Amusement Tax, authorized under Pennsylvania’s Local Tax Enabling Act.

Oh yeah… some City leaders talked a big game during the Home Rule Study Commission process about identifying new revenue sources, but I’m here to actually deliver on that.

We can act through the Amusement Tax to ensure that these devices—which may be legal “Games of Skill” on paper, but are often played no differently than slot machines—are not operating here without contributing a single cent to public benefit. An actual slot machine would at least have to pay gambling taxes.

I’ve spoken directly with a lobbyist for the industry—one who claims these machines should be taxed and legitimized. Yet, when I asked about municipal regulation and taxation, they threatened me with a lawsuit unless I was going to also tax jukeboxes, billiards games, baseball games… Everything. That communicates to me that they like this long and drawn out process and slow action from Harrisburg. It’s a stall tactic to keep our communities’ dollars in their pockets and not reinvested where they extract these dollars from.

By taxing these machines now on the municipal level, we can:

• Legitimize the devices the way lobbyists claim they want;

• Help crack down on illegal gambling by requiring proper licensing and compliance;

• Put revenue back into the community, instead of watching it leave through unregulated channels.

We don’t need to wait. Even though some state legislators claim they’re working on a solution, progress has been slow. We can act now—and we should.

That’s why I’m introducing a draft ordinance to tax Games of Skill through the Amusement Tax. We can’t afford to let this opportunity slip by while we wait for Harrisburg. We can lead by example—starting here, starting now.

Let’s get this done and use these dollars to invest in public housing, not private equity handouts. We are going to Build A City That Works for Everyone.