Pennsylvania Skill Calling On Police For Mini Casino Crackdown

• Leaders at Pennsylvania Skill have called for the police to investigate illegal gambling activity in their county.
• They believe that there are mini-casinos operating with slot machines without proper licensing.
• The local authorities are not completely sold on the idea but do plan to begin an investigation.

BEAVER FALLS, Penn. - Officials of Pennsylvania Skill have requested the local authorities to crack down on the illegal gambling going on in Beaver County at a press conference on Tuesday but police do not believe it is a raging problem.

The vice president of government affairs for Pace-O-Matics’s Pennsylvania Skill and former U.S. Attorney Tom Marino has stated that he is aware of “mini-casinos” operating in the Hopewell Shopping Center that need to be shut down.

According to Marino, Keno and 777 Video Skill Slots have been operated and are collecting revenue off of “luck-based” slots as opposed to “skill-based” gaming machines.

“We know it’s illegal because we’ve been inside,” said Marino .”These are slot machines, and slot machines can only be legally operated in casinos sanctioned and licensed by the state. There are hundreds of these illegal machines throughout the region, and thousands in Pennsylvania.”

Beaver County District Attorney David Lozier has been sent a memo with details on the alleged illegal slots inside of the establishment by the Pennsylvanian Skill compliance team.

Lozier does not believe this is a sincere demand for a criminal investigation. In fact, Lozier stated that he believes the press conference was a public stunt because he was only given a few hours notice of the event.

“I need more than a few hours' notice to investigate a crime,” said Lozier. “Rather than notifying the investigative agencies, this corporation scheduled a press conference. If they wanted me, or state police, to investigate the crime, they would tell us in advance so we could go in."

It is rare that the District Attorney office hears complaints of illegal gambling but Lozier says he will still work with investigating agencies to determine if there is a crime being committed.

Leadership in Pennsylvania Skill hope law enforcement can focus on the illegal operations they allege is happening because it is unfair to their legal gambling company that provides tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue, hundreds of jobs and support of small businesses.