Illegal Gambling Report Focuses on PA Skill Games

A following report from the AGA states that there are an estimated 67,000 unregulated gambling devices in Pennsylvania and approximately 580,000 worldwide. The AGA provided this information via their ongoing research into the unregulated gaming market, necessary work for the casino industry’s trade association. To be protected while playing, choose the best online casino PA which has a licence and slots from trusted producers. You have to be very careful.

The recent study was compiled for the association by The Innovation Group – a consulting firm. The data found by this team suggests that unlicensed machines played in person generate around $27 billion per year in the US. This figure is far larger than the estimated sum generated by illegal table games and online slots ( approximately $13.6 billion). Non-sanctioned sports betting loses a further $3.8 billion.  

“Tucked inside gas stations, restaurants, and bars, these pervasive unregulated gaming machines look and act like slot machines but lack any of the regulatory oversight of the legal industry,” states the recent report.

Alongside these findings, a recent report estimated that illegal machines cost some states up to $8.8 billion in missing tax revenue.

Illegal Gambling in PA

Lawmakers in Pennsylvania have been navigating the issue of illegal gambling machines in the state for a few years now. Concrete legislation has failed to be produced so far, as it’s difficult to agree on whether to regulate or ban the machines. A Commonwealth Court ruling is anticipated to see whether they’ll be deemed legal or illegal.

Most counterfeit games are marketed under the “Pennsylvania Skill” name. These commonly appear in clubs, convenience stores, bars, and other public settings. While they look like legal slot machines in PA online casino no deposit bonus, their production negates the random chances of standard gambling. Instead, they are biased towards winning money.

Since there’s a lack of regulation and monitoring, there’s no accurate estimate of how many illegal machines are operating across PA. The American Gambling Association study estimates 67,000 with information from a 2019 study. But there could be many more, as this audit was taken years ago, and the data only comes from one source.

The problem is that the sources mentioned above have made their assumptions based on their own estimates. Whether it’s 67,000 or any other number, it’s still uncertain that the number of unregulated devices played in the state is better or worse than any other they might have mentioned. 

The obvious thing, however, is that more than 26,00 slots are played legally within the state’s 16 casinos, even if each location has a small number of ones. What’s important is that these slots generate about $2.4 billion in annual revenue, 54% of which is siphoned to the government as taxes.

Another notable fact we can learn from the report is that Pennsylvania is among the states with the most significant number of unregulated devices. Some other states with illegal but common games included in the report are Kentucky (12,269 slot machines) and Virginia (8,194 slot machines).

Every slot has the potential to generate $50,000 yearly

Slot machines are primarily represented in PA bars and clubs, which helps businesses to save money on taxation. Although they still might suffer from rare enforcement actions by police confiscating machines, such bars are satisfied with the status quo. The AGA report explains the main reason for it.

The report states that the average annual revenue per machine in Virginia and Georgia is $46,270. In addition, the AGA reported that one of the most popular game developers in both Virginia and Pennsylvania, Pace-O-Matic, claimed in its advertisement that locations could make $20,000 per year with their machines. As we know that the operator takes a 40% share of machine revenue, it’s easy to count that the yearly machine revenue is approximately $50,000.

One of the most visible opposing sides of unregulated devices is that they retain more from layers’ losses than the average hold from legal slots. Thus, while unregulated slot machines hold about 24.6% of the players' losses, legal slots in Pennsylvania casinos generally hold 10% or less. Besides, the report noted that if we compare the ultra-competitive Nevada casinos, the casinos retain even less there.

Bill Miller, AGA President, stated when accompanying the report that illegal gambling remains the greatest threat in the industry. He said that about a third of the U.S. gaming market operates illegally and without any regulations. AGA is planning to use this research in order to push the case further to federal and state policymakers, as well as to law enforcement agencies, and hopes to achieve some results.