Kyle Sammin: So-called skill games are a racket the state should ban, not tax

Photo by Anthony Hennen State Politics

Kyle Sammin: So-called skill games are a racket the state should ban, not tax Kyle Sammin November 17, 2025 November 17, 2025

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Gambling has been legal in Pennsylvania for 21 years now, long enough that the youngest gamblers can’t even remember a time when their favorite pastime was not permitted in the commonwealth. In that time, the law has been amended and the number of casinos has expanded, but the biggest fight still ongoing involves that gambling that exists at the margins of the law: the so-called “skill games” that have popped up in bars and convenience stores across the state.

Casinos, racetracks, and the increasingly ubiquitous gambling done on people’s