Pennsylvania Gambling Addicts Hope that Skill Games Will Go Bust

Driving home on a recent Friday after another monotonous week of installing drywall, David Peck passed by the sole gas station in Millheim, Pa., and felt a familiar urge.The front of the Millheim Food Mart, the convenience store attached to the gas station, houses six video screen kiosks, each matched with a swiveling bar chair.With just $8 in his pocket, Mr.

Peck, 46, stopped in the store and slipped the money into one of the machines.His $8 was converted into 800 points and he pressed a button on the kiosk to make colorful icons fall into a tic-tac-toe-like grid.The game was called “Lucky Leprechaun” and the icons were kitschy symbols of luck: four-leaf clovers, golden horseshoes, white rabbits, pots of gold, leprechauns.

Each time three of the same icons lined up in a row, points accumulated.The kiosk looked like a slot machine.It acted like a slot machine.

But its designer had carefully implemented one feature that, it argued, would exempt the kiosk from being considered a gambling device: If players lose a spin, they have the option to switch to a different game to win back their points.These games are based on a skill, like remembering patterns, rather than luck.But they can be tedious, and many players choose not to try to win their points — and money — back.Because this choice exists, the kiosks are known as “skill games” and were long considered legal in Pennsylvania, allowing them to bypass the state’s regulations on gambling.

But a recent ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court reclassified the games as a form of gambling, forcing lawmakers to decide how to regulate them.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Sub...