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The state Supreme Court ruling giving lawmakers four months to decide a course of action on skill games fits with earlier legislative timetables for expanding legalized gambling.
The court ruled Monday that the tens of thousands of skill games machines in tavern and convenience stores are illegal gambling devices.
The governor and General Assembly can decide whether to legalize, tax and regulate them or do nothing and let prosecutors crack down. And they have until mid-October to reach a decision, according to the court.
That leaves decision-making time in the weeks before the general election.
It involves a subject that generates all sorts of debate: what to do with new revenue.
The court ruling comes halfway through June with the June 30 state budget deadline looming.
Lawmakers have repeatedly introduced bills to formally legalize, regulate and tax skill games.
But none of those bills have gained traction in the General Assembly, leaving the games unregulated even as there are now about 80,000 skill games operating in Pennsylvania.
Lawmakers have twice made major expansions of gambling since slot casinos were legalized in 2004.
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This occurred four months after a late state budget was signed in 2009 and four months after a partial budget was signed in 2017.
The first time came in 2010 when table games like poker and blackjack were added to the casinos' offerings. The second time was in 2017 when casinos internet gambling, fantasy sports betting, airport tablet games and video gaming terminals at truck stops were legalized.
Both expansions happened because Harrisburg needed new revenue.
In January 2010, casino table games arrived in the midst of the Great Recession and a late state budget enacted in October 2009. That budget was dependent on a new shot of gambling revenue. Lawmakers worked under the threat of state employee cuts to find a compromise.
They haggled until the end over ancillary issues like local host share of gambling revenue, revamping the Gaming Control Board, casino resort licenses and the table games state tax rate.
In late October 2017, lawmakers approved a multi-faceted gambling expansion and tax code bill after the taxpayer-supported General Fund budget bill became law in early July without Gov. Tom Wolf's signature.
Lawmakers dickered for months over the types of gambling included, tax rates, local revenue distribution, the mini-casino approval process and opt-out procedures for municipalities.
The debate this time around focuses on something already existing -- skill game machines in establishments -- rather than something being created.
Still there are plenty of issues.
For example, Gov. Josh Shapiro proposed a 52% state tax rate for skill games while Senate Republican leaders favor 35%.
Senate GOP leaders said gaming reform is a critical piece of resolving this year's budget. They said new skill revenue should go to the General Fund.
Shapiro's latest proposal channels skill game revenue to both the General Fund and the Lottery Fund, however. The governor wants a 5% revenue share going to Lottery to compensate for revenue drain due to unregulated skill games
House Democratic leaders said they want to see what Senate Republicans can pass in a bipartisan fashion in that chamber.
Rep. Aerion Abney, D-Philadelphia, said lawmakers should consider House Bill 2557 providing provisions, local municipal control and earmarking a revenue share to address gambling addiction.