Jul. 6—Electronic games seized from taverns in Edwardsville, Nanticoke and Wilkes-Barre several years ago by the Pennsylvania Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement will be returned, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled Thursday.
The 12 page ruling by the state appellate court upheld an opinion by Luzerne County Judge Fred A. Pierantoni III that compelled the return of electronic games to Pinnacle Amusements LLC.
BLCE appealed Pierantoni’s opinion to the Commonwealth Court that agreed with the Luzerne County judge.
State police with the BLCE conducted an undercover investigation of gaming machines in taverns, seizing several from Swizzle Sticks in Edwardsville, Park Market Six Packs to Go in Nanticoke and Anthracite Newsstand in Wilkes-Barre in 2019 and 2020.
The machines were considered gambling devices as they were deemed games of chance rather than skill.
The Commonwealth’s Court opinion is another win for the electronic skill game industry as there have been other challenges to the seizure of machine games in other counties.
Using Pierantoni’s opinion, the appellate court determined the games were more skill than chance as it involved a secondary game called “Follow the Banana.”
Follow the Banana has its own rules relying upon a player’s skill than chance at winning, the appellate court ruled.
The gaming machines, manufactured by Banilla Games, Inc., are “nudge” or “hot swap” games, where a player inserts cash and received digital credits on the machine.
The player selects a theme to play, wager an amount, and spins reels. Once the reels stop, the nudge player can rotate or nudge the reels to attempt to align them in a winning pattern.
The hot swap can substitute or swap one of the reel symbols with a symbol held in a pool outside the reels.
If a player was not able to create a winning pattern, the games present an on-screen option to engage in a secondary round play called…
Six Nations Rebels goalie Immani Mitten has been stellar in the Ontario Junior B Lacrosse League playoffs, posting a 2-0 record with a 6.50 goals against average. Photo courtesy Nanticoke Photography Photo by Nanticoke Photography /Nanticoke Photography 
