On June 15, a divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in In re Three Pennsylvania Skill Games Devices that “skill games” are subject to the Gaming Act and Crimes Code. The Court’s ruling stated that it was not the Court that declared “skill games” to be unlawful, but instead the General Assembly when it made a legislative amendment in 2017 and determined that the “skill” element to these games is not legally significant. The Court made clear that any remedy for its decision lies with the General Assembly, stating that “[if] interested parties find the application of the General Assembly’s laws to be undesirable, the proper remedy lies with the same legislative body that wrote those laws.”  

Mindful of the “potential disturbance” that the decision might have on business owners and other good-faith participants in the “skill games” industry, the Court also stayed its order for 120 days, during which time “no law enforcement agency is to take adverse action against owners or operators of ‘skill game’ devices in reliance upon this opinion.” 

Justice Wecht wrote the majority opinion and was joined by Chief Justice Todd and Justice McCaffery. Justices Brobson and Mundy joined in the opinion on one of the two appeals at issue. Justice Donohue filed a concurring opinion and Justice Brobson authored a concurring and dissenting opinion.