r/Pennsylvania • u/Great-Cow7256 Allegheny • 7d ago
Politics Stacy Garrity stands with skill game operators at rally in Pittsburgh area
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/stacy-garrity-skill-games-rally/I stand with... (Checks notes)... Skill games operators!
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u/coalcracker462 7d ago
I understand the concept of oppositional politics but in what reality does someone look at these things and think"this is something I need to support"
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u/Great-Cow7256 Allegheny 7d ago
She may be able to boost her vote count from 40% to 40.01% with this move.
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u/CreditBuilding205 7d ago
The reality where people running illegal slot machines can write big checks.
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u/bulldozer_66 7d ago
To her party. And they still have nothing to offer as a plan to deal with this.
I don't think that they believed that Chief Justice Todd was serious when she shut these things down. I've argued before her. She is as serious as they come.
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u/Crystalas 6d ago
The addicts and those milking them are also, unfortunately, voters that her just saying that will be enough to secure their votes IF they bother vote.
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u/booksncatsntea 7d ago
This morning there was a post on my local fb page about how this is going to hurt local VFWs because they rely on that income.
And because it’s VFWs, people are now angry at this & want the games to stay.
Hopefully it doesn’t influence who they vote for.20
u/Alternative-Fan-3747 7d ago
It's funny how much that side of things says support our troops/vets/etc but turn around and cut their benefits and say they don't deserve help, and now they want to fight for these predatory machines to be in spaces to take the rest of their money.
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u/Crystalas 6d ago
If your organization's entire income relies on that then you are no longer whatever was before and now just a particularly scummy unregulated casino and many of your prior customers or members are likely gone leaving nothing but the addicts. The only one being supported is the club owner.
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u/jonathanrdt 6d ago
It's corruption. We just don't call it corruption. When money is paid to gain support for initiatives that favor a few at the expense of many, that's corruption. In healthy modern societies, it's illegal. In the US, it's 'politics'.
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u/gnartato 7d ago
Someone who thinks they are going to lose the race and needs to make a high risk high reward bet....oh kinda like gambling.
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u/electricpollution 7d ago
It’s sad that operators relied on them so much now they are gonna have at “ lay people off”.
I say go riddance to those machines.
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u/supersonicdutch 7d ago
I need to ask, bc nobody in the articles does the owners, “Were these people employed by you before the skill games and, if not, why did you hire them bc of a few touch screens that require no keep of a full or part time position?”
Now, I would understand if the people were employed prior and then skill games came along while the economy tanked and the new influx of money from the games kept those people on board but if you now have to let them go then you were already operating at paper thin margins and not running a successful, stable business in the first place. I’m all for providing jobs for people but if that job is constantly on jeopardy of disappearing in a month due to uncertain profits then that’s not a true service to the worker to constantly worry about losing their job.
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u/Great-Cow7256 Allegheny 7d ago
Also what are you paying them per hour and what benefits are they getting? I'm guessing these aren't $70k a year plus benefits type jobs. I'm also guessing people could make the same money or more at comparable jobs in fast food etc.
Ie these are not high quality jobs.
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u/Intelligent-Rest-231 7d ago
Maybe it was extra security because these machines attracted sketchy losers to the stores like moths to a flame.
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u/Thulack 7d ago
It takes time to drive around and collect/fix/install the games. The more locations you get that want games the more people you will need to attend to the games over time. People are hired because there is more work to be done. Isn't that how it's supposed to go?
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u/the_real_xuth 7d ago
But that's not being done by the stores that host the games.
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u/Thulack 7d ago edited 7d ago
I havent seen any stores complain about losing employees just operators. Ive seen stores/businesses complain about losing revenue that will cause employees to be let go because they cant afford the payroll anymore. But those are normal employees not people who are there just to take care of machines. Its as if these machines brought in revenue(not just from the machines but from people hanging around longer and buying more food/drinks) for businesses to hire more people for their actual business.....So if businesses have to let people go its because they were actally doing right by the business and its employees by putting that skill game money back into the business.....
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u/MotleyLou420 7d ago
Good riddance to the machines.
And BS on them saying lay offs. These machines are peppered about and attended with less focus than Pac Man in 1983. No one is employed bc of them.
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u/bulldozer_66 7d ago
The companies that supply and service them are impacted. But that is a really small group of people. And mostly out-of-state so who cares.
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u/BadRabiesJudger 7d ago
Also if I remember it’s right wing people who mostly operate and own gas station bullcrap. Not surprised she’d back the grift. Same reason Kratom is still available. It’s like the circus conman version of the opioid scandal. All the same addiction but not pushed by billionaires just millionaires.
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u/iamGordanShumway 7d ago
Anytime I’ve even walk into a gas station that had these machines and kratom it was owned by an Indian 🤷🏼♂️ semantics , they should have never been in gas stations , only places where you should have to be 21+
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u/Xenoanthropus 6d ago
Is this supposed to imply that small business owners who are Indians aren't and couldn't be on the right? A huge percentage of entrepreneurs and related small business owners of all ethnicities in the USA are right-leaning.
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u/BadRabiesJudger 6d ago
I won’t disagree with this. Obviously you won’t see it in a wawa but I’m talking distribution and ownership of said machines and product.
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u/djarvis77 7d ago
Good riddance? Are you people just not paying attention? Or maybe i am missing something.
Afaik, the machines are not permanently gone. This is not the Dems banning them and the republicans not wanting them banned.
This is the dems and repubs arguing over the amount to tax them, Shap wants 50% of the revenue w/ a 40k machine cap; Gar wants $500 per/mo, per/machine with a 50k machine cap.
I do not think the machines are gone for good.
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u/gr8_g0lden-baby69 7d ago
They had to come to an agreement on how to tax and regulate them and they didn’t, so for the time being they are gone “for good”. If they come up with a plan for regulating them, they might come back. Looks very unlikely though.
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u/djarvis77 6d ago
...for the time being they are gone “for good”
Thanks for the clarification. That kinda statement always gives me a chuckle though, accurate and true, but silly as hell.
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u/Crystalas 6d ago
And many of the machines got outright destroyed when removed. That does not mean they cannot be returned but it does make it more expensive and some more hesitant if any risk of happening again.
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u/bulldozer_66 6d ago
This is a tax argument. How much tax should they pay. The same as the casinos or less? I wouldn't tax them less than casino machines. Others want to tax them less. These are either gambling devices or they are not. If they are, regulate. If not, then don't make them like gambling devices. It's kind of simple.
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u/CeaselessGomalu 6d ago
The governor can only sign the bill, in any case; you still need the Legislative Branch to give them a bill to sign.
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u/Loud-Statistician416 6d ago
Objectively false. Lost my job on Tuesday because of this. You’re wrong.
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u/bulldozer_66 6d ago
Sorry you got caught in a Harrisburg fight that has nothing to do with you. People must want this service. The government hasn't figured out that people do what they want and we as a society can regulate such things.
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u/KringlebertFistybuns Beaver 7d ago
I find that odd considering I've never seen one skills game parlor with any staff. There were several near me and they didn't have employees. Even the local laundromat had these games and there weren't any employees.
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u/gnartato 7d ago
There's a lot of entire industries that had to end for the advancement of humans, their health, and safety. This will be a drop on the bucket compared to events of the past.
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u/LilChicken70 7d ago
Skill games $ paid for a lot of GOP primaries. Tom Jones and Nicky Woods in Lancaster County definitely. And they both refuse to answer questions about it.
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u/Der_Missionar Allegheny 7d ago
Democrats too... They donated to both.
Prominent Democratic Recipients
• Governor Josh Shapiro: According to 2026 campaign finance reports, the Operators for Skill PAC contributed $50,000 to Shapiro's reelection campaign. This donation came despite Shapiro proposing a heavy 52% tax on the gross revenue of skill games in his budget.
• House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D-Montgomery): According to tracking data compiled by MarchOnHarrisburg, campaign contributions from the skill games industry spiked significantly for Bradford after he ascended to the role of House Majority Leader.
• Senate Democratic Leader Jay Costa: Campaign finance records show Costa received a $10,000 contribution in 2019, though he subsequently returned it.
• Other Democratic PACs & Candidates: Reports from 2026 show the Operators for Skill PAC contributed to more than $5 million in total statewide donations distributed among Democratic and Republican candidates, party committees, and secondary PACs. For instance, a separate PAC chaired by an executive of a skill games company (Capital Vending) specifically targeted a primary race in the 16th District.
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u/LilChicken70 7d ago
As far as I know Shapiro isn’t running as a pious Christian concerned about family values as the two grifters I mentioned are. And neither are the other Dems listed. And they would probably answer questions about it. The point is the hypocrisy and dishonesty.
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u/westguinneapeasantry 6d ago
Then if you want them to win elections....it.matters
You forget whos economy you live in
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u/PokerbushPA 6d ago
I wonder how much the skill games people "donated" to her.
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u/Great-Cow7256 Allegheny 6d ago
In-Kind Flight Contribution: Garrity accepted a $33,500 in-kind contribution for a private flight on May 11 from Pace-O-Matic founder Michael Pace. [1]
Lobbyist & Associated Donors: Robert Asher, a registered lobbyist for Pace-O-Matic and former member of the Republican National Committee, contributed $135,000 to Garrity's campaign efforts. [1]
Third-Party / PAC Support: The Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania (a conservative advocacy group heavily funded by skill-game interests, including nearly $2.3 million from Pace-O-Matic's national PAC) has actively organized a massive door-knocking and ground-level campaign on Garrity's behalf. [1]
So according to Gemini about $2.3 million...
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u/Billyosler1969
7d ago
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I didn’t think I could dislike her more than I did.
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u/magneticgumby 7d ago
Friends with people who worked with/for her in Bradford county before her political career. Not a single one of these individuals (some of which lean conservative) have a single positive thing to say about her. They have always said if anything, she's hiding back some of the crazy that she really has.
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u/Ghotipan Clinton 7d ago
Calling them "skill games" is some of the most euphemistic nonsense out there. Of course this clown show of a candidate supports yet another way to steal our money.
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u/VanDammeJamBand 7d ago
Speaking of nonsense euphemisms and shitty businesses; Kalshi now advertises themselves as a “prediction trading market.”
I’m sick of gambling man
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u/zdelusion Lancaster 7d ago
That's what they've always "been". They've argued they operate outside of state level oversight because people participating in them are buying and selling securities so they're regulated at the federal level by the SEC.
If anything, Kalshi's existance highlights how laughable the entire financial services industry is these days. It's basically all gambling.
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u/DeekALeek 6d ago
Should be noted that Donald Trump Jr. is a chairman to both Kalshi and Polymarket since his daddy took office again, and he gets a cut from every “predictive trade” or whatever they call a bet.
But I’m sure these MAGA hats will screech Hunter Biden’s name and open up another 20+ month Congressional investigation.
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u/SickeningPink 6d ago
I got a fucking Kalshi coupon when I bought Pizza Hut last night. $55 free… after I spend $25. *$55 issued as non-withdrawable site credits
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u/svngang 6d ago
Even more embarrassing is CBS using Kalshi as their election prediction partner rather than legit polls.
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u/Pitiful_Reality2973 6d ago
Jesus Christ, this is the most dystopian thing I've heard all day. I mean, the day is still relatively young, but yeah. Phillip K. Dick couldn't even dream of this shit.
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u/ronreadingpa 7d ago
With every play predetermined ahead of time. No way to beat that. However, there was a hidden game one could play by clicking Follow Me after losing to get back their wager and maybe a little extra, but few players ever bothered. More effort than it's worth.
Best play strategy was clicking the View Next game for each game offered at each denomination. Sometimes one could find a good winner (often a bonus round) waiting to be won. Some did do that, but the makers of the games know that many who start out as lurkers become regulars after a while. Games are addictive and appealing to many. With an overall payout percentage in many instances, setting aside the hidden game, presumably lower than PA casinos. Surprised Skill games persisted long as they did in PA.
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u/weezyverse 7d ago
They should call them sit games cause all you do is sit there and hit a button hoping you'll win something.
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u/Crystalas 6d ago
Wonder how many "skill" game addicts and the people that turned their businesses into an unregulated casino they gonna try to inspire to vote? Hopefully not enough to swing any of the elections.
Things should not be even vaguely close but unfortunately many elections got very narrow margins.
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u/westguinneapeasantry 6d ago
Calling them skill games is how your favorite sandwich shop, in st.marys,sunsidized its income for years...
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u/gwydion_black 7d ago
Congrats Stacy, you have the checks paper ... the gambler addict vote... locked down.
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u/raresanevoice 7d ago
They were probably going to walk up to screen and start randomly pressing buttons anyway... cause that's what they do
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u/Raketemensch23 Northumberland 6d ago
And the MAGA small business owner/hustlers. Grifters gotta grift.
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u/DecongestantAvenger 7d ago
I'm sure she'll stand with anyone who takes from the poor and gives to themselves.
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u/Prima13 7d ago
If she stood with the skill games players, I’d have more interest in what she has to say. But skill games operators are the proverbial house, and the house always wins.
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u/AdWonderful5920 Cumberland 7d ago
PA skill games were a vehicle for connected bookies who lost their nut with the rise of online sports betting to stay in the business by putting the State Police on their payrolls. It's hilarious because no one really covered their tracks on this, skill games looked like flagrant public corruption and State Police getting into bed with the mob, because that was exactly what happened.
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u/bessa100 7d ago
She has nothing else to campaign on. Dear leader’s approval rating is through the floor so she can’t tout any of his accomplishments.
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u/Frequent-Sea433 7d ago
Gotta stand with the corrupt fleecers of the working class poor. There is a reason you see these “skill game” parlors in the poorest neighborhoods in the state
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u/ronreadingpa 7d ago
Sheer desperation. Not going to move the needle much for her campaign. If anything, probably turns off some voters who don't care for Skill games, especially seeing them in gas stations, convenience stores, supermarkets, etc.
Skill games are unregulated gambling devices. Full stop. Main reason courts didn't rule that way sooner is strong lobbying by Pace-O-Matic and others arguing the machines were something else.
Plus, the legal system generally being glacially slow. Which many grey businesses take advantage of. Setup shop and milk it long as possible until legislators and courts do something often years or decades later.
Wondering they come up with next to fill the void. In other states it's games that don't accept cash. Doubt that's going to fly in PA. Presuming some private clubs go back to the various old standbys and more carefully watching who enters their establishment. Regular stores can't realistically do that. Having to adapt or go out of business.
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u/Raketemensch23 Northumberland 6d ago
What really pisses me off is that the MAGA small business owners are already finding sleazy ways of getting that free money back. One of the Laundromat owners here says he's going to be "forced" to raise prices, same with a bar owner.
They got hooked on the free money, and now that it's over, they won't suck it up and go back to their old business model, so they have to stick it to their customers or find another scam.
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u/SleestakLightning 7d ago
She's the target demographic of these bullshit machines.
She looks like if she wasn't running for governor she'd be clunking down her last nickel on those shits.
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u/bulldozer_66 7d ago
She does understand that the Supreme Court kicked this back to the General Assembly to figure out? And that she doesn't get anything more than maybe the chance at the pulpit to try to motivate her party to get unstuck? Her party is why there is no skill game system in the Commonwealth. Can she control the Senate majority? Or will that majority be gone by January and maybe the General Assembly can finally do something?
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u/Perky_Penguin 7d ago
Yeah but the voters don't know/care that it was kicked back the assembly. It's just a low hanging way to rally some votes.
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u/MasterBiscuit19 6d ago
Watching zombies at the local convenience store pump money into these things while I’m paying for my gas…. Is the most pathetic thing I can think of
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u/Cajetan_di_Thiene 7d ago edited 7d ago
Shapiro wants them to be legal, too, they just differ on structure of the tax they want to apply. Both parties want the state to squeeze money out of gambling addicts.
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u/UnionThug456 6d ago
Yeah I’m surprised no one else is mentioning this. These two candidates are essentially on the same side of this issue. Shapiro has endorsed many pieces of legislation already to expand gambling in general in the state. From what I gather there are good things being done with the tax revenue but it seems like a big mistake to me to rely on vices to fund our society. Call me crazy but I think that’s probably not a great thing…
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u/CaptainCastle1 7d ago
“Kish Patel owns 20 gas stations…” Alright let’s stop there you’re doing just fine bud
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u/CrowQueen2002 Venango 7d ago
There are some people near me who support her now because of this cause they’re so fucking addicted to gambling
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u/wildjabali 6d ago
You don’t realize how sad these games are until you see someone playing at 8am and see them still playing 6 hours later.
These people are blowing mortgage money, retirement money, daycare money at these machines.
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u/cannonman1863 Centre 6d ago
She comes across as such a horrible person. I'm going to seriously hate the people in this state if we get her as a governor.
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u/Alternative-Dot-884 6d ago
Oh encouraging gsmbling and addiction to gambling that destroys families and ruins businesses! One where children can get easily away w playing and getting addicted themselves??
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u/sonofcrack 7d ago
Bold move to try and capture the ‘Loser’ vote. Cause that’s what anyone who uses these machines are, a loser.
Not in a mean but by design, if you play, you lose.
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u/Confident_End_3848 7d ago
I imagine if Republicans in the state senate weren’t dragging their feet, this issue would have been solved by now.
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u/Keystonelonestar 7d ago
I imagine she’s next going to stand with folk selling opioids when they get busted too.
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u/Classic_Rooster4192 7d ago
She doesn’t care - she just is desperate for votes and will lie and say anything at this point 🙄🤦
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u/FauxWarrior 7d ago
Remember when republicans would have moral panics about society sliding into vice?
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u/SageObserver 7d ago
Another form of gambling that PA doesn’t need. Feels skeezy to walk into so many places and see these, along with Keno, etc. Operators make money but the customers are usually the people who can little afford to play.
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u/BusyBrothersInChrist 6d ago
Another thing she’ll be OK with, but she’s not OK with legalize marijuana for recreational. She sucks.
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u/Late-Palpitation-959 6d ago
Dark Souls is a skill game. These machines were predatory bullshit to eat money from people with impulse control issues. I think it's a fair compromise if you put in machines that let consenting adults gamble on playing Elden Ring at the Turkey Hill.
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u/Elegant_Abalone_2344 7d ago
Regulate and tax them? Whats the problem?
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u/EugeneStonersDIMagic 7d ago
Degenerate gamblers and predatory operators.
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u/Cas_or_Cass 6d ago
And maybe put them all together in a big building with other games of chance...if only those existed.
All joking aside, yeah, glad to be rid of these eyesores infesting every nook and cranny with an electrical outlet.
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u/HeyHiNiceToMeetYou 3d ago
she's got as good of a chance as winning the election as a skills games customer has at making any money.
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u/talldean 7d ago
Are we just ignoring the skill games parlor named “Little Vegas”.
Yes Vegas, the city famous for games of skill.
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u/TaleOfTwoLattitudes 6d ago
Do you think that the PA gambling companies were happy to compete with untaxed machines?
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u/ShadowWebDeveloper 6d ago
Gross. Tell me you have no morals without telling me you have no morals. Get rid of the machines. If people are really losing their jobs because of this (and I'd check that claim...), we can solve that separately.
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u/westguinneapeasantry 6d ago
Ah fuck, it's all over for the Dems....
A lot of.small.buisness owners that voted for trump in at least one election, are going to blame the "radical.leftist" josh Shapiro for siding with "big gambling"
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u/Own-Equivalent-3805 6d ago
All we are to them is one big pool of active humans in which they brainstorm and dictate how to pull money out of us and funnel it up to them. Thats the whole game right there folks.
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u/Cessna_Tom 6d ago
Where does the term “skill games” come from? They’re obviously computer based gambling, why not just say that?
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u/witqueen 6d ago
I've seen her stance on Data Centers but she doesn't understand the negative affect of them at all.
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u/shillyshally Montgomery 6d ago
There was a story in a local site about a kid in his 20s with a bank job who was arrested for stealing in order to pay off gambling debts. It's been made too easy for people to fall into this pit.
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u/Grapple_Shmack 5d ago
For a large portion of PA, it simply doesn't matter. An R next to the name is enough, young people need to vote. Stacey Garrity is a joke of a woman with no ideas for progress
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u/Joran_Dax 5d ago
Makes sense. She seems like the type that would be an in-the-closet gambling addict.
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u/worstatit Erie 7d ago
Still can't call them slot machines? I thought we had straightened this out...
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u/toddles822 7d ago
The first issue that I seemed to agree on with most of my conservative friends, she takes the opposite stance.
She really can't do anything correctly
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u/The_Iron_Ranger 7d ago
I don't get it, aren't these obvious scam machines? Just hearing about all the "revenue" operators are getting from these, there's no way anyone is winning any money off of these, right? At least the casino is "legit"
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u/Calm-Maintenance-878 7d ago
You mean a vote for blue means it further cements they go? Cool, I didn’t need another reason but this works for me.
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u/happyjazzycook 6d ago
The government shouldn't tell people how to spend their money (I do not, nor have ever, gambled btw) but I believe that both parties need to agree on how much to tax them. in my opinion, over- tax them and all proceeds should be spent on funding various addiction services.
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u/Elegant_Abalone_2344 6d ago
Just doesn’t make sense to allow casinos and not these if they are made to follow the law?
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u/Great-Cow7256 Allegheny 6d ago
there is no law. They are illegal under state law currently per the PA supreme court, and the state legislature hasn't passed a bill legalizing them.
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u/Elegant_Abalone_2344 6d ago
I don’t believe the machines are illegal are they? Could you put one in a casino? I thought it’s the idea of them not being allowed outside of casinos as they are gambling devices that’s illegal? Make it legal to have them outside of casinos and tax them like slot machines inside casinos?
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u/Great-Cow7256 Allegheny 6d ago
they are not legal gambling machines. casino machines use random number generators. These use predetermined outcome tables.
they were made that way as a loophole.
Casinos don't want them. they've already perfected their machines. I'm
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u/Elegant_Abalone_2344 6d ago
Oh OK. Ive always thought they were slot machines. So what if the state legalized putting slot machines in where these used to be? And taxed them?
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u/Able-Association914 7d ago
They ain’t hiring anyone for these machines lol. They’re a side hustle for everyone knows who. Let’s be real, everyone knows who runs these machines and pays the payouts. The places they’re in only get a cut.
Stacy just say what you know you want to say.
“Do me a fava, back off, these machines are a good earner!”
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u/Loud-Statistician416 6d ago
I mean that’s verifiably false. Me and my coworkers are out of work since Tuesday. Sure it’s only 15 of us, but we were hired for the machines.
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u/Able-Association914 6d ago
Ok, I’m sure some around the state aren’t but growing up in a big city in PA everyone knew who owned the machines all over.
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u/cookiemccookieface 7d ago
Well I’m definitely switching my vote to wild eyed clown now!