Pennsylvania Lawmakers Propose Six-Month Skill Games Reprieve Ahead of October Deadline

Two Pennsylvania representatives want to give the state’s skill-games operators another six months, pushing the industry’s compliance date from October 13 to April 13, 2027.

Neither has filed a bill. Both proposals exist as co-sponsorship memoranda — the notices lawmakers circulate to gather support before introducing legislation — and the official pages, reviewed on September 22, say neither has been submitted for introduction. The deadline they are trying to move is three weeks away.

Two proposals seek more time

Brad Roae, a Republican representing House District 6, circulated his memo on September 14 under the heading “Skill Games Extension,” writing that he will “soon be introducing legislation” to push the deadline back six months.

He is candid about what such a law could and could not do. “We obviously cannot extend a date that a court makes in a decision, but we can pass legislation to make skill games legal,” he wrote. His approach would create a new category of slot machine called skill games, exempt it from the taxes and regulations that apply to slot machines, and allow the devices to operate outside casinos — with the whole thing expiring on April 13, 2027. As Roae put it: “April 13, 2027 would be the new October 13, 2026.”

His case for urgency is arithmetic. A permanent deal would have to settle legalization, tax rates, regulation and how the revenue gets spent, and he argues there are too few scheduled voting days left before October 13 and no consensus to build on. He points to volunteer fire department clubs, Elks Lodges and VFW Posts that depend on the revenue, to small businesses that have built it into their margins, and to jobs manufacturing and servicing the machines. He attaches no figures to any of it.

Manuel Guzman, a Democrat representing House District 127, circulated his own memo two days later, titled “Providing an Orderly Transition Period for Pennsylvania Skill Games.” It lands on the same date — April 13, 2027 — by a deliberately different route.

Where Roae spells out a new statutory category, Guzman keeps it plain: his memo says the legislation would maintain the current legal status of skill games through April 13, 2027, avoiding an abrupt change while the General Assembly finishes its work. It is explicit that the measure would not predetermine the tax rate, the regulatory structure or how revenue is distributed, leaving those to a framework legislators are still working out over regulation, taxation, licensing, enforcement, consumer protections and where the machines may operate. What it offers, he argues, is certainty for the small businesses, organizations, employees, distributors and manufacturers caught in between.

October deadline remains the reference point

The machines at issue are the cash-payout terminals found in taverns, social clubs, mini-marts and gas stations — not ordinary video games.

On June 15, 2026, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled they are “slot machines” as defined in the Gaming Act. In its September 17 notice, Pennsylvania State Police identified October 13 as the compliance deadline, and said establishments possessing, operating or maintaining these machines outside Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board-licensed businesses could face criminal prosecution and machine seizures beginning October 14. PSP also says powering off or unplugging an otherwise operable machine is not sufficient.

GameEmpress previously covered the October 13 compliance deadline and police removal guidance.

Neither memo changes any of that. Both are still looking for co-sponsors, and until one becomes a bill and passes, October 13 is the date that counts.