Operators of the 12 Pennsylvania casinos are suing the state, asking the state Supreme Court to declare the 54% tax they pay on slot machine revenues as unconstitutional, because the state allows ten or thousands of unlicensed so-called “skill games” to operate tax-free.
The main supplier of the games, Georgia-based Pace-O-Matic, has won a few court decisions reversing seizure of their machines. However, the state attorney general has appealed the latest of those decisions to the state Supreme Court, citing a 2017 law that defines skill-based games as slot machines.
This week’s filing asks the high court to declare that the 54% slot tax established by the 2004 state gaming law violates constitutional guarantees designed to ensure that taxation is fair. The tax accounts for around $1 billion in annual revenue to the state, which goes to property tax relief and economic development.
