Skill games resemble slot machines and have proliferated over the past decade in convenience stores, gas stations, restaurants, social clubs, and other locations statewide.

The agency is tasked with reviewing alleged violations of the state’s Ethics Act, which governs behavior by public officials and employees.Įarlier this year, Spotlight PA reported that lobbyists for the state’s largest casino, Parx Casino in Bucks County, embarked on an intense, behind-the-scenes effort to get the Gaming Control Board to abandon its hands-off stance toward skill games. Mary Fox, the state Ethics Commission’s executive director, said the agency does not confirm or deny the existence of its investigations. A spokesperson for the state attorney general’s office said he could not comment, noting that skill games are “the subject of a multitude of litigation.” It is not clear whether the lawmakers’ requests for an inquiry will be heeded. In the past, another spokesperson told Spotlight PA the agency acted properly in its dealings with the lobbyists. Gaming Control Board spokesperson Richard McGarvey said the agency has not seen the letters and thus had no comment. “The people of Pennsylvania must have confidence that the regulatory bodies established by the Legislature are acting in good faith and following the law,” Solomon wrote in his letter, obtained by Spotlight PA, to the state Ethics Commission. Jared Solomon (D., Philadelphia) have asked the state attorney general’s office and the state Ethics Commission respectively to review the gaming board’s actions for compliance with the law, and review internal rules established to ensure the agency remains impervious to outside influence.

HARRISBURG - Two Pennsylvania lawmakers have requested investigations into the state Gaming Control Board following a Spotlight PA story that detailed how top officials met privately with casino lobbyists about a major competitor and failed to disclose the meeting on public logs required by the regulatory agency’s ethics rules. Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media.

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