Pennsylvania Supreme Court Leaves Decision in Place Allowing Keystone Skill Games to be Operated in the Commonwealth
GREENVILLE, N.C., March 21, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — In a closely watched case, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on Tuesday declined to review a decision that allows certain Banilla skill games to be operated in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Specifically, in July 2023, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania agreed with a lower court that Banilla’s Keystone Skill game machines were not gambling devices and, therefore, can be legally operated in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. See Pinnacle Amusement, LLC v. Bureau of Liquor Control Enf’t, 298 A.3d 447 (Commw. Ct. of Pa. 2023). The Commonwealth Court affirmed a lower court decision that (i) the “nudge,” “hot swap,” and “Follow the Banana” features in Keystone Skill games constitute elements of skill and not elements of chance, so therefore (ii) the Pennsylvania Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement (“BLCE”) must return the Banilla skill game machines that it seized to the machine’s owner, Pinnacle Amusement. Accordingly, the skill game machines that were the subject of the court cases—Keystone Skill games manufactured by Banilla Games—have been declared to be legal to operate in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Background
In 2019 and 2020, BLCE conducted undercover operations at several liquor-licensed establishments. BLCE seized eleven (11) electronic skill game machines, ten (10) of which were owned by Pinnacle Amusement and had been manufactured by Banilla Games. Pinnacle Amusement filed motions for the return of its skill game machines in the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas and in other local courts where its machines had been seized. In February 2022, the trial court held an evidentiary hearing and ultimately ruled in favor of Pinnacle Amusement— finding that the skill game machines did not constitute gambling devices per se and ordering the return of all of Pinnacle Amusement’s seized machines. BCLE appealed that decision to the Commonwealth Court, which, as discussed above, affirmed the trial court’s decision. BCLE appealed again to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, which refused to hear BCLE’s appeal. Therefore, the decision of the Commonwealth Court is the law of the land in Pennsylvania.
Banilla Games is based in Greenville, NC, and designs, develops, and distributes products for various board, nudge, skill, redemption, and amusement game markets, and is licensed in the States of Georgia, Iowa, and Washington and has games approved for the State of Nebraska.
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SOURCE BANILLA GAMES, INC.
