Losing revenue from skill games will hurt veterans, Pennsylvania VFW says

The fight over skill games in Harrisburg isn't just playing out at the state capitol. For some veterans organizations, what lawmakers decide could determine whether they can keep their doors open.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in June that skill games are slot machines and can only operate in casinos or licensed truck stops. Now, businesses are staring down a deadline of Oct. 14. The machines will become illegal unless state legislators can come to an agreement on how to regulate the machines. 

The commander at the VFW Post 418 in McKees Rocks says what's at stake isn't really about a game. He says it's about the veterans who walk through these doors looking for a place where they know they belong.

"Any veteran who comes here, we have a need to help them," said Commander Ed Carter. "We take care of each other now. We invest in people, not the bank account." 

Unless lawmakers in Harrisburg find a solution, establishments like the VFW have until Oct. 13 to remove their skill games.

"It'll be tough on me if they decide to make them illegal," he said. "It'll take my breath away. It'll take all of the momentum we've gained over the past two-and-a-half, three years, and it'll flatten it."

He says this building is more than four walls and a bar. For some veterans, it's a lifeline —  a place to be with people who understand what they've seen and what they may still be carrying home from war.

"Without the income from the machines, we can't do anything," Carter said. "I'm not gonna fight to stay open. I wanna fight to help veterans. I want to save veterans from doing stupid things with their lives, like there's 22 a day still who take their own lives. I've lost a couple. I don't want to do it anymore." 

Carter knows how close this post has already come to losing everything. When he took over, he says this post was on its last leg. Since then, they've poured time and money into bringing it back.

"The odds are pretty good that we just did all of this, we're on fire right now, you take the machines away, we're going to go straight down the tubes," he said.  

Now he fears a decision made more than 200 miles away in Harrisburg could undo years of work at home and threaten a place veterans count on when they don't want to be alone.

State police say beginning Oct. 14, skill games that remain in places like this could be seized and the establishments could face criminal charges.