6 Skill Game Firms Get Conditional Seizure Delays in Pennsylvania

The October 14 police announcement says negotiations with several additional distributors are still pending. PSP has not named the six businesses, given the number of machines covered or published their individual removal deadlines.

5 Conditions for the Six Skill Game Firms

Each participating business must satisfy five requirements under its agreement with PSP:

1. Make its devices inoperable from October 14;
2. Remove machines from Pennsylvania premises on a continuing, rolling basis;
3. Supply a complete inventory of owned machines and their locations;
4. Send police weekly progress reports on removals;
5. Accept forfeiture of any machines left after its PSP-assigned deadline.

In return, PSP will set a removal period based on the volume of equipment involved. The police will hold off on seizures until that period has passed.

No single extension date appears in the announcement. Firms with larger inventories may receive a different removal timetable, but PSP has not specified how these periods will be calculated. It also has not disclosed how many other distributors are seeking agreements.

September Warning and October Deadline

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court classified skill games as slot machines on June 15. A 120-day compliance period followed. It ended on October 13, and enforcement began the next day.

PSP had already warned businesses to get the equipment removed. Its September 9 notice said switching off a terminal or pulling its plug would not satisfy the requirement. Venues were advised to contact their distributors. If a supplier refused to collect its machines, the business could ask PSP for help. The October announcement offers a different timetable for the six companies that signed agreements.

15M compared the two police notices. September’s guidance gave businesses a common removal deadline. The October terms introduce individual collection periods, determined by how much equipment each distributor undertakes to remove. The notices contain no combined machine count for the six firms and no final date for completing all six removals.

Seizure Delays Apply Only to PSP

The arrangements cover seizures by PSP. They do not prevent other law enforcement agencies from taking action against unauthorized equipment.

A machine also remains unlawful if it is simply unplugged or temporarily altered. Only approved gaming terminals at licensed casinos and qualifying truck stops can operate under the state’s Gaming Act.

For the six signatories, the next requirement is a weekly removal report. PSP has not published the first reports or identified any machines already collected under these agreements.