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In 2026, gambling or advertisements for it are hard to avoid.
On your phone and on TV, advertisements for gambling and “prediction markets” like Kalshi or Polymarket are abundant, all offering a chance at wealth with just a few clicks. Step outside and see a DraftKings advertisement on SEPTA or a blonde celebrity on an LED billboard on Market Street advertising a prediction market app. DraftKings contributed more than $40 million to political groups during the 2026 election cycle, making it the 23rd-largest donor or donor group, according to an analysis of federal campaign finance filings.
For some, the ecosystem can feel a bit overwhelming. But for Tariq Khan, gambling is his lifeblood.
He’s been at his 7-Eleven franchise on Snyder Avenue in South Philly since 2011, where he says the “skill-games machine” — a slot-machine-like device that lets players wager money, sustained his business.
“This was one of the great assets we had that could make us money easily,” Khan said. “It helped support our families, our employees, and this was a good source of income for the business to keep the door open.”
But on Oct. 16, the machine was removed from Khan’s business, leaving an empty space on his storefront and a revenue deficit for him to deal with.
Khan said he’s seen a reduction in foot traffic with the loss of the attraction and with it, a decrease in purchases, since gamers often bought a drink or snack from his business. Amid an economy where purchasing power continues to shrink, and costs continue to rise, Khan said he’ll have to pay some employees’ wages out of pocket this month rather than from business revenue.
“I think the way the business is going, because the grocery prices are too high,” said Khan. “I am thinking this will be shut down if the city of Philadelphia does not return these gaming machines in the near future.”
Khan acknowledges the health concerns involved with obsessive gambling but said he believes the machines were a way for people who lived alone to get out of their homes and stay mentally busy.
Pennsylvania’s contentious history with skill games
Skill games started popping up in Pennsylvania in the mid-2010s, after a 2014 Beaver County court ruling found that one manufacturer’s machines were games of skill rather than illegal gambling devices. They spread quickly, particularly in the late 2010s, becoming fixtures in convenience stores, gas stations, bars and other small businesses across Philly.
The machines work much like traditional slots: Players insert cash, spin digital reels and try to line up symbols to win money. Manufacturers argued that an added puzzle element made them games of skill rather than chance, allowing them to operate for years without the regulations imposed on casinos.
Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office estimated in February 2026 that about 50,000 machines statewide took in $9.4 billion in annual wagers, keeping roughly $2.35 billion after payouts. Those are estimates, not verified totals, and the money retained was shared among manufacturers, operators and businesses hosting the machines but not taxed or shared by the state or city.
Philadelphia City Council first passed restrictions in 2022. Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr. pushed for a tougher crackdown in 2023, but then-Mayor Jim Kenney pocket-vetoed the legislation.
In April 2024, Mayor Cherelle Parker signed another Jones-backed measure, banning the machines in most convenience stores and gas stations while allowing limited exceptions for certain businesses with liquor licenses and at least 30 seats. Violators faced $1,000 fines per machine, per day. A legal challenge blocked enforcement that December.
Meanwhile, Harrisburg couldn’t agree on how to handle the growing industry. In 2023, state Sen. Gene Yaw and state Rep. Danilo Burgos proposed legalizing the machines and taxing them at 16%, potentially generating hundreds of millions in state revenue.
Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed a much higher 42% tax in 2024, raising it to 52% in 2025 and again proposing that rate in 2026. Other lawmakers floated competing rates and licensing plans, but none became law.
The debate finally reached a turning point June 15, 2026, when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the devices were legally slot machines. Justices gave lawmakers 120 days to act before enforcement began.
The deadline expired Oct. 13, and state police began enforcement the following day, leaving businesses like Khan’s without a source of income they had come to depend on.
“The proliferation of gambling machines meant the reduction of grocery items in neighborhood stores. What also occurred were incidents of robberies that were recorded in the Mayor’s Nuisance Business report,” said Jones to Billy Penn regarding why he pushed to restrict the machines
Jones Jr. said he considered the impact on businesses in restricting the machines but “would never put profits over people.”
Khan and other business owners Billy Penn spoke to said their employees often felt safer working because the machines rarely left them alone in their stores.
Gambling a growing industry in PA, nationally
But skill games aren’t the only way Philadelphians can gamble, and the machines’ removal comes as Pennsylvania’s broader gambling industry is making more money than ever.
Americans wagered nearly $167 billion on legal sports betting in 2025, according to the American Gaming Association. Sportsbooks kept nearly $17 billion of that, a 23% increase from the previous year.
Pennsylvania collected nearly $239 million in sports betting taxes during the 2025-26 fiscal year, plus another $1.34 billion from online casino games. Altogether, regulated gambling generated more than $3 billion in state taxes and fees.
Skill games, meanwhile, generated billions in wagers without paying comparable gambling taxes to the state. Lawmakers spent years debating how to get a share of that revenue, with the industry pushing for legalization and licensing rather than a ban.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity received at least $4.5 million in campaign contributions connected to the skill-games industry between Sept. 15 and Oct. 19, according to Spotlight PA. Garrity has supported legalizing and taxing the machines and appeared at an industry rally in Pittsburgh earlier this month. Shapiro has also received industry donations, including $50,000 from a skill-games PAC in June.
But the billions flowing through the gambling industry also represent money coming out of players’ pockets.
Experts see nuance in skill games’ removal
A 2025 Penn State study estimated that between 2.5% and 6.4% of adults in Pennsylvania may be problem gamblers, while as many as 30% had gambled online in the previous year.
Josh Ercole, executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of Pennsylvania, said his organization spent years pushing for protections on skill games, rather than advocating for their removal. Ercole shared concerns about individuals who were addicted to skill games, going to the more accessible phone gambling after the machines’ removal.
Going to a casino or skill games machine involves getting dressed, leaving home and traveling somewhere, Ercole said. On a phone, those barriers disappear.
“Maybe that’s easier to access. Maybe it’s a faster rate of play, and they start to see problems develop at an even faster rate than they did before.”
Unlike regulated casinos, the machines had virtually no requirements for responsible gambling information, helpline numbers or self-exclusion programs that let people voluntarily bar themselves from gambling. Further, while regulated casinos have security and age restrictions, skill games could be found in businesses where customers of any age stopped to buy groceries, gas or a snack.
In 2025, 96 people contacted the state’s 1-800-GAMBLER helpline identifying skill games as their most problematic form of gambling. Nearly 3,000 callers sought help for gambling-related issues overall, with two-thirds reporting financial problems.
Ercole acknowledged the machines provided income to small businesses, but questioned the argument that they were a benefit to communities or businesses.
“You’re benefiting from the losses of others,” he said.
A national study released Wednesday by Rutgers University’s Center for Gambling Studies found that 42.7% of teenagers ages 13 to 17 surveyed had gambled in the past year. Among those teenagers who gambled, about 11% were classified as high risk for gambling problems.
Lia Nower, the center’s director and lead author of the study, said seeing gambling machines in neighborhood businesses could help normalize gambling for young people, just as advertisements and betting odds have become part of watching sports.
“For young people, the less things that are linked to gambling, the better,” Nower said.
Nower, who has researched slot machine gambling, supports removing skill games from convenience stores and gas stations, pointing to the lack of oversight and consumer protections.
But she also said there’s not enough research to know what happens to the people who regularly played them once the machines are gone.
Some may stop gambling. Others could move to online casinos or sportsbooks, where they can place bets without leaving their homes.
Ercole said the accessibility of online gambling raises its own concerns. Going to a casino involves leaving the house and traveling somewhere. A smartphone eliminates those steps, and people can continue betting long after they might otherwise have gone home.
He doesn’t expect the state’s latest crackdown to settle the fight over gambling machines, either, with lawmakers still divided over how the industry should operate.
“I don’t think it’s over,” Ercole said. “I don’t think we’ve heard the last of skill machines or skill games in Pennsylvania, and even if we have, it’s just temporary. It’s going to be the next thing that comes along.”
