Massachusetts’s take on skill-based slot machines

The Massachusetts Gaming Committee is discussing regulation on gambling machines made to look and play like real video games.

US.- Yesterday (Thursday) the Massachusetts Gaming Committee met to examine if the state will allow classic games and games modeled after currently trendy phone applications to stand alongside traditional slots in the state’s casinos.

The executive director of the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers, Marcus Prater, explained the concern of the industry as millennials deem slot machines outdated. Thus, skill-based slot machines that mimic games like Angry Birds, pinball, Pac-Man, and Guitar Hero were created with the aim of reeling in that demographic. “This is something totally new. Players have never had the option, in any market in the world, to influence the outcome of the game,” Prater said.

Anti-gambling advocates believe the games meant to look like kids’ games are a deceiving way to introduce young players at an early state into gambling.  “They’re trying to find new ways to get people hooked on gambling. It’s an incredibly predatory business for that reason,” claimed Les Bernal, national director of the Massachusetts-based Stop Predatory Gambling.

Massachusetts’ 2011 law includes provisions for this kind of games, so adding new rules and making some amendments would be easier than starting from scratch.

There are regulations and laws in force regarding this issue in Nevada and New Jersey. Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland have all started a discussion about skill-based games, although legislation on the matter is still to be issued.