by KYW's Tony Romeo
Slot machines that simulate table games like blackjack may soon be playing at Pennsylvania’s casinos.
Pennsylvania’s gaming law prohibits traditional table games run by a human dealer, but the Gaming Control Board has now approved an electronic table game called Shuffle Master. Gaming board spokesman Doug Harbach says the game is allowed under Pennsylvania law because the odds are random and players are playing against the machine, not each other -- even though multiple players share a terminal screen. Harbach says the board’s laboratory has been studying the game for months:
"It was a thorough investigation by both the lab and by the gaming board to make sure that this game, even though it has the atmosphere of a table game, is certainly defined as a slot machine, where the player is against the game and not another player.”
The board’s action means Pennsylvania casinos are now free to install the Shuffle Master machines.
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