Classification Standard

§ 101Purpose

This standard states the test by which a person determines whether a product is a covered product, and therefore whether the SBCGS family applies to it. It further states the measures by which a representation that a product depends on the skill of the player is determined.

§ 102Scope and relationship to the other Standards

(a)This standard determines scope. It imposes no requirement on the design, operation, or conduct of any person. Those requirements are stated in SBCGS-M and SBCGS-T.

(b)A reference in SBCGS-M or SBCGS-T to a covered product, a covered device, a covered operator, or a licensed organization is a reference to those terms as determined under this standard.

(c)This standard does not determine whether a product is lawful, whether it constitutes gambling, a gambling device, a slot machine, a skill slot machine, a hybrid slot machine, a game of skill, a scheme of chance, a lottery, a coin operated amusement machine, or charitable gaming under any applicable law, or which authority regulates it. A determination under this standard is not evidence on any of those questions.

(d)A determination that a product is not a covered product is not a determination that the product is unregulated, safe, or exempt from any obligation imposed by applicable law.

(e)This standard does not apply to a product offered on the gaming floor of a facility licensed by a gaming regulatory authority to conduct casino gaming, where the product is subject to that authority's device approval and internal control requirements. The exclusion is stated in § 104(g)(1) and is a scope limitation, not a judgment that such products present lesser exposure.

§ 103Definitions

As used in the SBCGS family:

Affiliate means a person that controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with a covered operator or a licensed organization.

Amount committed means the total value a player transfers to a covered device or to a covered operator in order to obtain plays, whether denominated as cash, credits, points, entries, or otherwise, without deduction for awards.

Base play means the sequence beginning when a player commits consideration for a play and ending when the outcome of that play is displayed, excluding any skill element and any bonus or secondary feature.

Charitable representation has the meaning given in § 107(b).

Charitable yield has the meaning given in § 107(d).

Covered device means the machine, terminal, cabinet, system, or application by which a covered product is offered to a player, together with associated equipment, communications, and server components on which the outcome, the accounting, or a control required by SBCGS-M or SBCGS-T depends.

Covered operator means a person that places, operates, services, monitors, or receives a share of the proceeds of a covered product, or that manufactures or distributes a covered device for use with a covered product. The term includes a person that provides player-facing access to a covered product offered by another person.

Covered product means a product that satisfies the test in § 104.

Gross gaming revenue means the amount committed in a stated period less the value of awards made to players in that period, before any expense, fee, tax, commission, or allocation.

Host location means the premises on which a covered device is made available to players, and the person in control of those premises.

Licensed organization means an entity that holds a license, permit, registration, or equivalent authorization to conduct charitable, fraternal, religious, veterans, civic, or similar gaming under applicable law, or that would hold one if the applicable law reached the product.

Nominal skill product has the meaning given in § 106(g)(2).

Play means one event from the commitment of consideration by a player until the outcome of that event is determined and displayed, without the commitment of further consideration.

Product means a game, device, contest, arrangement, or offering made available to a player, however denominated by the person offering it.

Rules of play means the statement of how a product operates, what a player must do, what a player may win, and on what terms, as presented to the player on or at the covered device before the player commits consideration.

Skill element means a feature of a product whose operation depends on an act of the player and which, when engaged, can change the value returned to the player on the play in which it is engaged.

Skill representation has the meaning given in § 105.

Skill-represented product means a covered product as to which a skill representation is made.

§ 104Applicability test

(a)Purpose. This section states the test by which a person determines whether a product is a covered product. The test is functional. It does not depend on how the operator characterizes the product, on the operator's regulatory status, on the technology by which the product is delivered, or on whether the product constitutes gambling under any applicable law.

(b)The test. A product is a covered product if it satisfies each of the gates in subsections (c) through (f) and is not excluded under subsection (g).

(c)Gate 1: consideration. A player must transfer money, or a thing exchangeable for money or having a stated monetary value, in order to obtain a play.

(1)Consideration is present whether the transfer is made to the device, to the host location, to the covered operator, or to any other person, and whether it is denominated as a wager, a purchase, a donation, a membership, an entry fee, or otherwise.

(2)Consideration is present where a product is offered without charge alongside a paid channel of entry, if the free channel is not disclosed on the covered device with equal prominence, is not available at the point of play, or does not confer an opportunity equal in value and in ease of access to the paid channel.

(d)Gate 2: award of value. A play must be capable of resulting in an award of money, a thing exchangeable for money, or a thing having a stated monetary value, to the player.

(1)An award is within this gate whether paid in cash, by ticket, voucher, credit, card, electronic transfer, merchandise, or by an increase in a balance available for further play.

(2)An award consisting only of additional plays of the same product is within this gate where the balance of plays is exchangeable, in fact or by practice at the host location, for anything within paragraph (1).

(3)This gate is not satisfied where the maximum award obtainable from a single play does not exceed the greater of ten dollars in wholesale value or the value of a single play, the award is not cash and is not exchangeable for cash, and awards are delivered at the covered device at the time of play.

(e)Gate 3: uncertainty at commitment. At the moment the player commits consideration for a play, the value the player will receive from that play must not be known to the player.

(1)This gate is satisfied where the value depends on the operation of a random number generator, on a predetermined finite pool of outcomes, on an event external to the player, or on the player's performance of a task whose result is not certain at the time of commitment.

(2)A feature that discloses the outcome of a forthcoming play before the player commits consideration for that play does not defeat this gate as to any play for which the outcome was not so disclosed, and does not defeat this gate where the player cannot alter the disclosed outcome.

Basis: the preview feature described in In re: Three Pennsylvania Skill Amusement Devices, No. 50 MAP 2024, slip op. at 11 (Pa. June 15, 2026).

(f)Gate 4: presentation. At least one of the following must be true:

(1)A skill representation is made as to the product, as determined under § 105; or

(2)The product presents outcomes to the player using a form conventionally used by gambling devices, including spinning or rolling reels or wheels, combinations of symbols evaluated against a published table of awards, a display of an award schedule keyed to symbol combinations, or a progressive or accumulating award pool.

(g)Exclusions. A product is not a covered product where any of the following applies:

(1)The product is offered on the gaming floor of a facility licensed to conduct casino gaming, and the covered device is subject to the approval requirements and internal control requirements of the authority that licenses that facility.

(2)The award is determined solely by the comparative performance of two or more human participants in a contest that has a defined start and a defined conclusion, published rules fixed before entry, an entry fee fixed before entry and not variable during the contest, and an award schedule published before entry.

(3)The product is a drawing, raffle, or paper ticket game conducted without an electronic device that determines, reveals, or represents the outcome to the player.

(4)The product is a lottery game conducted by, or under the direct authority of, a state lottery, and is subject to that lottery's device approval and internal control requirements.

(5)The product presents no opportunity for an award within gate 2, taking subsection (d)(3) into account.

(h)Anti-avoidance. In applying this section:

(1)The characterization of a product by the person offering it, including a characterization advanced in litigation or in a regulatory filing, does not control.

(2)Two or more features offered on a single covered device are a single product where a player commits consideration once and the features operate on that consideration in sequence. A feature is not a separate product because it is separately named, separately described, or separately reached.

(3)A product does not fall outside a gate because a feature that would satisfy the gate is disabled, hidden, or unavailable in a particular configuration, if the feature can be enabled without replacement of the covered device.

(4)Where a covered operator offers a product to a player through an intermediary, both the operator and the intermediary are covered operators as to that product.

§ 105Skill representation

(a)A skill representation is made as to a product where any of the following states or implies to a player, or to a regulator, that the value a player receives depends on the skill, knowledge, dexterity, judgment, memory, or other ability of the player:

(1)The name of the product, the name of a feature of the product, or the name under which the product is marketed;

(2)Text, graphics, audio, or video presented on or at the covered device, including the rules of play and any attract sequence;

(3)Marketing, advertising, signage, or a statement by the covered operator, the host location, or the licensed organization;

(4)A statement to a regulatory or judicial authority, including a position advanced in a license application, an administrative proceeding, or litigation, that the product is a game of skill or that skill predominates in determining its outcome; or

(5)A statement by the manufacturer of the covered device to a testing laboratory or to a purchaser or lessee of the device.

(b)A skill representation is made as to the whole product. It is not confined to the feature in which the skill element resides.

§ 106Measures of a skill representation

(a)Purpose. This section states the measures by which a skill representation is tested. Each measure is determined for a covered product under SBCGS-T and is stated in the classification record required by § 108. The measures are not a test of legality and do not determine whether skill predominates over chance under any applicable law.

(b)Return at optimal skill. The return at optimal skill is the expected value returned to a player, expressed as a percentage of the amount committed, on the assumption that the player engages every skill element on every play on which it is available and applies it without error, over the configuration submitted for determination.

Basis: Nev. Gaming Comm'n Reg. 14.010(10) and (14) define a game of skill and a hybrid game by the dominant factor affecting outcome over a period of continuous play; Reg. 14.040(1)(a) sets a floor of 75 percent on theoretical payout for each wager; GLI-11 v3.0 § 4.20.3 recognizes that the style or method of play may take the return below that floor.

(c)Return at absent skill. The return at absent skill is the expected value returned to a player, expressed as a percentage of the amount committed, on the assumption that the player does not engage any skill element on any play, over the same configuration.

(1)Where the product cannot proceed unless the player performs an act, the return at absent skill is computed on the assumption that the player performs the act in the manner requiring the least time and the least information, and not on an assumption of optimal performance.

(d)Skill influence range. The skill influence range is the return at optimal skill less the return at absent skill, stated in percentage points.

(e)Skill accessibility. A skill element is accessible only if all of the following are true:

(1)The skill element is described in the rules of play, including how it is reached, what the player must do, and what the player receives for performing it, and the description is available to the player before the player commits consideration for a play;

(2)The skill element can be reached by a player using only information presented on or at the covered device;

(3)Where the skill element is offered following a play, the opportunity to engage it remains available to the player for a period not shorter than the greater of fifteen seconds or the period for which the opportunity to commit consideration for a further play is available; and

(4)The skill time cost ratio does not exceed 20, where the skill time cost ratio is the median elapsed time required by a proficient player to complete the skill element divided by the median elapsed time required to complete a base play.

Basis: Ohio Rev. Code § 2915.01(UU)(2)(e) and (f) disqualify a device where success is determined by game features not visible or known to the player, or is impacted by the exercise of a skill that no reasonable player could exercise. This subsection states those disqualifications as observable conditions.

(f)Skill realization rate. The skill realization rate is the number of plays in a measurement period on which a player engaged an available skill element to completion, divided by the number of plays in that period on which a skill element was available, determined from records of play by players in the field and not from laboratory play.

(1)A measurement period is not less than ninety consecutive days and not fewer than fifty thousand plays across the covered devices to which the determination applies.

(2)The skill realization rate is determined separately for each product and each configuration of that product for which the skill influence range differs.

(g)Classification of a skill representation. A skill-represented product is classified as follows:

(1)Demonstrated skill product. The product is a demonstrated skill product if the skill influence range is not less than five percentage points, every skill element is accessible under subsection (e), and the skill realization rate is not less than 0.20.

(2)Nominal skill product. The product is a nominal skill product if a skill representation is made and the product is not a demonstrated skill product.

(3)A classification under this subsection is provisional until a skill realization rate has been determined under subsection (f). Until that determination, a product satisfying subsections (d) and (e) is classified as a provisional demonstrated skill product.

(h)Consequences. The classification under subsection (g) does not affect whether a product is a covered product. It determines the disclosure and representation obligations stated in SBCGS-M § 304 and the certification obligations stated in SBCGS-T § 811.

§ 107Charitable representation and charitable yield

(a)Purpose. This section states the definitions that apply where a covered product is offered under charitable authority or is represented to a player as supporting a charitable purpose. It imposes no requirement. The requirements are stated in SBCGS-M Part 500.

(b)Charitable representation. A charitable representation is made as to a covered product where any of the following states or implies to a player that play supports a charitable, fraternal, religious, veterans, civic, educational, or similar purpose:

(1)The name, mark, or logo of a licensed organization or of a beneficiary, presented on or at the covered device or in the area in which the covered device is placed;

(2)A statement on or at the covered device, on signage at the host location, or in marketing;

(3)The conduct of the product under a license, permit, or registration issued under charitable gaming authority; or

(4)Placement of the covered device on premises owned, leased, or operated by a licensed organization, where the organization's charitable, fraternal, or veterans character is identified to the public at those premises.

(c)Beneficiary. A beneficiary is the person or purpose to which amounts described in subsection (d) are applied.

(d)Charitable yield. The charitable yield of a covered product, for a stated period and a stated set of covered devices, is the amount actually applied to a charitable purpose in that period, divided by gross gaming revenue for the same period and the same devices, expressed as a percentage.

(1)Amounts applied to a charitable purpose are amounts disbursed to, or irrevocably committed to, a beneficiary or a use that qualifies as a charitable purpose under applicable law. They do not include:

(i)Any amount retained by, paid to, or credited to a covered operator, a distributor, a manufacturer, a host location, or an affiliate of any of them;

(ii)Any amount applied to the acquisition, lease, service, communications, monitoring, or financing of a covered device;

(iii)Any amount applied to the general operating costs of the licensed organization, including premises, utilities, insurance, and compensation, except to the extent applicable law expressly treats such costs as a charitable purpose and the treatment is disclosed under SBCGS-M § 502; or

(iv)Any tax, fee, or assessment payable to a government.

(2)Charitable yield is computed on gross gaming revenue, not on net proceeds, profit, or any measure that has already deducted expense. Where applicable law defines net proceeds or an equivalent term, that measure is reported in addition to charitable yield and does not replace it.

§ 108Classification determination and record

(a)A determination under this standard is made by the person that offers the covered product to players, before the product is first made available to a player, and is documented in a classification record.

(b)The classification record states:

(1)The product, the covered device, the manufacturer, the software identification of each component on which outcome or accounting depends, and the configuration to which the determination applies;

(2)The determination under § 104, gate by gate, with the basis for each;

(3)Whether a skill representation is made, identifying each representation under § 105;

(4)For a skill-represented product, the return at optimal skill, the return at absent skill, the skill influence range, each element of accessibility under § 106(e), the skill realization rate or a statement that it has not yet been determined, and the resulting classification under § 106(g);

(5)Whether a charitable representation is made, identifying each representation under § 107(b), and the beneficiary; and

(6)The date of determination and the person responsible for it.

(c)The classification record is retained for not less than five years after the covered product ceases to be offered, and is produced on request to a regulatory authority, to an assessor engaged under SBCGS-M § 701, and to a licensed organization for whose benefit the product is offered.

(d)A determination under § 106 is made on the basis of a report of an independent testing laboratory meeting SBCGS-T § 881. A determination made without such a report is provisional and is identified as provisional in the record.

§ 109Reclassification

(a)A determination is reviewed and, where necessary, made again upon any of the following:

(1)A change to the covered device, its software, or its configuration that affects outcome, award schedule, accounting, or any skill element;

(2)A change to the rules of play, to marketing, or to any other statement that would create or withdraw a skill representation or a charitable representation;

(3)The first determination of a skill realization rate, and each subsequent determination;

(4)A change in the allocation of proceeds that changes charitable yield by more than two percentage points; or

(5)Twenty four months from the date of the most recent determination.

(b)Where a product ceases to be a demonstrated skill product, the covered operator withdraws every skill representation as to that product within thirty days, or ceases to offer the product.

(c)A reclassification does not have retrospective effect on the lawfulness of past conduct under this standard, and does not excuse a failure to have made a determination when one was required.

§ 110Relationship to classification tests under applicable law

(a)Purpose. This section identifies the classification tests against which this standard is most likely to be compared, and states where this standard diverges and why. Appendix B sets out the comparison in full.

(b)The predominant factor test. Under the predominant factor test as applied in Pennsylvania and in most jurisdictions that have addressed the question, a product is a gambling device where consideration, chance, and reward are present, and chance rather than skill is the predominant factor determining outcome. The test is binary, is applied by a tribunal after the fact, and does not require the influence of the skill element to be quantified. This standard does not apply the predominant factor test, does not purport to predict its outcome, and does not treat a determination under this standard as evidence on it.

Basis: Commonwealth v. Two Elec. Poker Game Machines, 465 A.2d 973 (Pa. 1983); In re: Three Pennsylvania Skill Amusement Devices, No. 50 MAP 2024 (Pa. June 15, 2026).

(c)The Pennsylvania statutory definitions. The Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act defines a skill slot machine as a slot machine in which the skill of the player rather than the element of chance is the predominant factor in affecting the outcome, and a hybrid slot machine as one in which a combination of skill and chance affects the outcome, and includes both within the definition of a slot machine. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania held on June 15, 2026 that those definitions make the skill element of the devices before it legally insignificant. This standard reaches a product whether or not any such definition applies to it.

Basis: 4 Pa.C.S. § 1103; 18 Pa.C.S. § 5513.

(d)The Ohio definition of a skill-based amusement machine. Ohio defines a skill-based amusement machine by reference to the form and value of the award and disqualifies a device on six grounds, including where success is impacted by the exercise of a skill that no reasonable player could exercise. The Ohio definition excludes any device that pays cash. This standard adopts the substance of the Ohio disqualifications in § 106(e) and states them as measurable conditions, and does not exclude cash products, because a cash product is the product that presents the exposure the family addresses.

Basis: Ohio Rev. Code § 2915.01(UU); Ohio Admin. Code 3772-50-24 app. A.

(e)GLI-11 section 4.20. GLI-11 defines a game with skill as one containing elements that can be leveraged by a player to impact the return percentage, and states requirements for disclosure, player versus player advantage features, virtual opponents, player advice, recall, and interruption. It expressly declines to classify a game as a skill game or to serve as a legal basis for classification. It requires disclosure that outcome is affected by skill only where the style or method of play could take the return below 75 percent, which acknowledges that the return moves with the method of play without requiring anyone to say by how much. This standard supplies the classification GLI-11 declines to supply, and requires the influence to be quantified rather than disclosed as a fact.

Basis: GLI-11 v3.0 §§ 4.20.1, 4.20.3.

(f)Charitable gaming measures. State charitable gaming statutes measure the charitable share after the deduction of prizes and of some or all expenses, under terms such as net proceeds or adjusted gross receipts. Section 107(d) diverges by computing charitable yield on gross gaming revenue. Both measures are reported. The divergence is deliberate and is the subject of Appendix C.