Companies take guilty plea over illegal video gaming devices
Operators of two amusement companies have pleaded guilty to distributing illegal video gaming devices in Washington County and other communities in the Pittsburgh region.
According to a news release from the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office, the proprietors of Buffalo Skills Games Inc. and J.J. Amusement Inc. agreed to dissolve the companies and forfeit $5 million in assets as part of the plea deal.
In 2024, the devices were seized at bars, convenience stores and gas stations in Washington County, along with Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Crawford, Indiana, Somerset, Erie, Venango, Armstrong and Westmoreland counties. Close to 400 illegal gambling devices were seized at more than 60 locations.
“This resolution secures a multimillion-dollar forfeiture for the commonwealth, while assuring the companies will cease to exist,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said in the release. Sunday explained the seized devices were “slot machines essentially dressed up as skill games.”
Sunday added, “Illegal gambling operations are not victimless crimes. They can fuel criminal enterprises, exploit individuals addicted to gambling and rip off consumers with games that are not regulated, provide little or no chance of winning, and do not comply with gambling self-exclusion lists intended to protect those struggling with addiction.”