Compliance Updates

Pennsylvania Skill, Powered by Pace-O-Matic, Ruled a Legal Game of Skill by Another Pennsylvania Court

Published

2 years ago

April 18, 2023

Today, Pace-O-Matic announced the company won a return of property motion in York County, Pennsylvania. This property encompassing gaming machines, related equipment and cash, was wrongfully seized during raids conducted by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Liquor Control and Enforcement (BLCE).

“Pace-O-Matic’s Pennsylvania skill games are legal,” said the counsel for Pace-O-Matic, Matthew Haverstick of Kleinbard LLC. “The Commonwealth has wrongfully seized this equipment for years with no credible evidence that they are illegal. Today, the Commonwealth refused to present witnesses or make a case that the games are illegal. This issue as a matter of law is decided and the courts have ruled appropriately and consistently so.”

“Again, another Pennsylvania court has found that Pennsylvania skill games, powered by Pace-O-Matic, are legal games of predominant skill,” the Chief Public Affairs Officer for Pace-O-Matic, Mike Barley, said. “Our Pennsylvania skill game has been ruled a game of predominant skill by multiple courts across the Commonwealth. With the legality of our games upheld repeatedly, we are eager to work with the legislature to pass legislation that will fairly regulate and tax the skill game industry. Pace-O-Matic stands out among our competitors as the active driving force seeking additional regulation and taxation.”

Pennsylvania skill games, powered by Pace-O-Matic, have been ruled games of predominant skill by courts in Beaver, Dauphin, Monroe and York Counties. Additionally, after a review of the law and court decisions, our games have been returned to us in both Clearfield and Delaware Counties. Just last month, we received a favorable ruling in Dauphin County declaring Pennsylvania skill games legal. The Dauphin County Court ruling also castigates the Commonwealth and BLCE for their biased conduct.

Stake - Best Online Casino & Sports Betting Platform

“All three of the Commonwealth witnesses opined that the games were predominantly games of chance,” wrote Dauphin County Common Pleas Judge Andrew H Dowling. “However, we do not find these opinions to be persuasive for a number of reasons. Initially, it is this court’s belief that the Commonwealth’s investigation shows case bias. The Commonwealth is seeking to make all machines like the Pace-O-Matic machines into illegal gambling devices and their whole approach and intent is to shut down games regardless of the actual gameplay. The fact that Officer Wentsler never played the Follow Me feature while undercover is indicative of this. Thus, the Commonwealth as a whole is biased against the games and their approach lacks case credibility.”

Earlier this year, the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas ruled that our games are legal games of skill and alleged misconduct in the investigation and prosecution of legal skill games.

Last month, Monroe County Common Pleas Judge Jennifer Harlacher Sibum wrote: “The court finds that the Commonwealth improperly withheld and misrepresented material evidence relative to the issuance of the search warrant in this matter and that such conduct warrants the suppression of the seized property.”

Pennsylvania Skill has pumped new life into the Commonwealth’s small businesses, fraternal and social clubs and veterans’ organizations by providing them with an entertainment product that the public enjoys. Meanwhile, research data proves skill games do not impact the revenue of casinos and the lottery, achieving record profits yearly. Pennsylvania skill games are manufactured in the Commonwealth, and over 90% of the profits stay inside the state. That is unheard of in gaming and many other industries. Pace-O-Matic is proud of its record and looks forward to continuing to benefit Pennsylvania businesses, clubs, and taxpayers now and in the future.

Pace-O-Matic’s Pennsylvania skill products are manufactured by Miele Manufacturing in Williamsport, which has created nearly 200 direct jobs. Many of the materials used to make up the gaming machines come from companies in the Commonwealth. Additionally, Pennsylvania skill game revenue has become a lifeline to fraternal clubs and organizations across the Commonwealth including American Legions, VFWs and local fire companies.
As part of ongoing efforts to ensure compliance, Pace-O-Matic employs a team of former state police officers to enforce all terms of contracts and codes of conduct. These contracted terms limit the number of machines, where they are placed in a location and have protections in place to prevent anyone underage from playing the devices.

In 2014, the Beaver County Court of Common Pleas ruled that Pace-O-Matic’s Pennsylvania skill games are legal as games of predominant skill. In addition, last year, the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General and the Clearfield County District Attorney’s office negotiated a settlement to return wrongfully seized Pennsylvania Skill games, related equipment and cash.

Up Next

Betcris is a Gold Sponsor at SAGSE LatAm 2023

Don't Miss

Galaxsys launches Four New Games

Compliance Updates

GLI Becomes First Laboratory to be Accredited in Maranhão, Brazil

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Niji Narayan

Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) has become the first laboratory to achieve accreditation in Maranhão, Brazil. The accreditation allows GLI to perform tests and certification for the gambling and lottery industry interested in working with lottery and fixed-odds betting operators in the state of Maranhão.

The milestone is the latest in a series of regulatory achievements for GLI in Brazil. Lottery of the State of Maranhão is the third jurisdiction in Brazil to accredit laboratories, and GLI is accredited in all and the first to be authorized in all.

Cassiano Pereira Junior, president of Maranhão Parcerias (Mapa), highlighted the importance of the partnership between the Maranhão State Lottery (Lotema) and GLI. “Every day we strive to make Lotema even better, providing greater security for its users. The partnership with GLI is a concrete way of achieving this goal, as its certification laboratories play an important role for the gaming and lottery industry, guaranteeing the conformity, security, and integrity of the products and systems used by Lotema,” Cassiano explained.

“We are grateful to the Lottery of the State of Maranhão for granting GLI the laboratory accreditation, becoming the first to be authorized in Maranhão. It is extremely gratifying to see how Lotema empower themselves by trusting the technical compliance process to provide transparency, integrity, and accountability to all the industry stakeholders through the certification process. The laboratory accreditation is the first step for a successful implementation of the certification based on jurisdictional standards, and the reason why we at GLI take this step very seriously and with great priority every time a new jurisdiction opens. We feel responsible for being part of the solution towards a fast and efficient implementation of regulations, thus supporting further local industry development and sustainable growth. We are grateful to Lotema and excited to be part of its thriving industry,” said Karen Sierra-Hughes, Vice President of Latin America, Caribbean, and Spain.

GLI has been working with regulators, lotteries, and industry stakeholders across the Latin American and Caribbean region for more than 26 years in their efforts toward regulation, sustainable growth, and eradicating illegal gaming. In Brazil, GLI has been side by side with government entities and all industry stakeholders for nearly 20 years, participating in public hearings in the Senate, Chamber of Deputies, and State government level, and in recent years, adding strategic local representation to strengthen their local support.

Compliance Updates

Betano Receives Licence to Operate in Colombia

Published

2 days ago

November 20, 2024

Niji Narayan

Kaizen Gaming Colombia, owner of the Betano.co brand, was authorized by Coljuegos to operate online betting in the country. With this new operator, there are now 16 web platforms that have the approval of the entity to market games of chance online.

“We continue to strengthen the online gaming industry. We hope that, with the entry of this new operator, we can continue to increase transfers for the health of Colombians. At this time, the platform is already operating for the betting public,” said Marco Emilio Hincapié, president of Coljuegos.

The entity is also in the process of authorizing an additional operator called Bingo Casino, which is expected to begin offering bets in the coming weeks.

It is worth mentioning that, by 2024, it is estimated that online betting portals will pay around $419,527 million to Coljuegos for exploitation rights, which represents an increase of 31% compared to the same period in 2023. All of these resources are transferred to the health system.

“We are seeing that online betting is a sector of the economy that has driven the growth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. That is why we are working to make the market even more attractive and to provide more options to bettors,” said the president.

According to financial projections, this new operator is expected to pay Coljuegos around $21.513 billion over the next five years for operating rights and administration costs, resources that can be transferred to subsidize health and scientific research.

Compliance Updates

Chris Christie bets on Texas to approve OSB in 2025

Published

4 days ago

November 18, 2024

Adrienn Sarkany

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has backed Texas to legalise online sports betting in the state’s next legislative session.

Christie helped pave the way for sports betting liberalisation across the US by bringing the Supreme Court case that led to the repeal of PASPA.

The case was fought and won by prominent conservative lawyer Ted Olson, who Christie hired to argue the case for states to make their own decisions on sports betting. Olson died last week at the age of 84.

After Missouri became the 39th US state to legalise sports betting in some capacity, attention has quickly turned again to the big three states of Texas, California, and Florida.

“I think it’ll happen in Texas in the next legislative session,” said Christie, speaking to Covers.com. The next session is due to commence in Texas on January 14, 2025.

Christie is less confident about California, however, where competing sports betting ballots failed in 2022 amid a bitter dispute and lobbying war between online operators and local tribes.

California is seen as essential to the future prospects of US sports betting operators, given its size and wealth and dramatic impact on the country’s total addressable market (TAM).

“I don’t know about California,” said Christie. “This really takes gubernatorial leadership, and Gavin Newsom has got to decide if this is one of the issues he wants to lead on.

“Without gubernatorial leadership, the legislature won’t do it because they’re pulled like taffy in too many directions by too many different interests. Without the governor pushing for it, I just don’t think it’ll happen.”

Despite another potential setback in California, Christie has backed sports betting to penetrate pretty much every state eventually.

“I really believe sports betting is inevitable to go just about nationwide, because people in America love their sports, they just do,” he said. “I think it is in the leagues’ best interests to grow their audience. The government gets some piece of the pie out of that which they enjoy, and the public seems to be pretty happy for the most part.”

Depending on expansion, US sports betting could, in theory, reach every state. It would then become a national issue, but Christie has warned the federal government not to interfere.

“Let the states handle it,” he said. “The states are doing fine. You haven’t heard of anything awful or irreversible happening since each state has been involved and they should have the ability to decide whether they want gambling or not.

“I don’t think the federal government should have anything to do with it and I don’t think they ever should have. I don’t think they have to be babysitters for the governors of the country.”