Pace-O-Matic has used the McCormick firm for legal representation, including in three lawsuits against lobbyists the company accuses of intentionally spreading false information to damage its business.

Yaw lists the firm as a source of income on his statement of financial interests to the State Ethics Commission. Yaw, whose district includes Miele Manufacturing, the company that builds Pace-O-Matic’s Pennsylvania Skill games, is an attorney at the McCormick Law Firm in Williamsport, where Yaw’s wife Ann S. Gene Yaw, R-Lycoming, introduced legislation this spring that would give the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue responsibility for licensing, regulating and taxing skill games. They also say skill games contribute to crime, pointing to instances in which skill game players have been robbed of winnings and the murder of a Hazleton convenience store clerk by a player who knew the store had large amounts of cash to pay winners.Īs a call to ban skill games in the General Assembly has become stronger, Pace-O-Matic has pushed back aggressively, suing the law firm and lobbyists the company alleges influenced state lawmakers and officials to take positions against the company’s business.Īnd while Pace-O-Matic has allies in the General Assembly, its biggest supporter may be too closely entwined with the company and its interests, a legal ethics expert and a lawmaker said. Opponents contend that skill games are illegal gambling machines siphoning revenue from the Pennsylvania Lottery, the state-regulated casino industry and the programs they support, while the lack of safeguards against problem gambling the state requires of the casino industry promotes gambling addiction. It says the machines are distinct from slot machines because players must use skills such as hand-eye coordination and can theoretically win every game. The company says the machines provide vital income for small businesses and nonprofit fraternal organizations such as American Legion posts.

Pace-O-Matic is the state’s leading distributor of skill games – slot machine-like devices that allow users to pay to play a game for a chance to win a jackpot.

For nearly a decade, Georgia-based Pace-O-Matic has been fighting to cement the legitimacy of a billion dollar gambling business that has flourished in the back rooms of bars and social clubs across Pennsylvania.

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