The jury in a Philadelphia court reached a $15.3 million verdict on a five-year-long murder case on Monday and held two “skill game” gambling machine manufacturers, Pace-O-Matic and Miele Manufacturing, liable in relation to the crime due to safety negligence.

Ashokkumar Patel, a 50-year-old store clerk in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, was murdered on Dec. 12, 2020 by a frequent gambler, 45-year-old Jafet De Jesus Rodriguez, who had lost thousands of dollars in Craig’s Food Mart on video gaming machines manufactured and provided by Pace-O-Matic and Miele. Rodriguez fatally shot Patel, who was mopping the floor at the store, and then robbed a bank bag of $14,000.

The lawsuit held the two manufacturers responsible due to a lack of safety regulations for the gaming machines.

On behalf of Patel’s estate, attorneys Robert W. Zimmerman and John Lang of Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky argued the death might have been avoided had Patel not been responsible for handling the winnings associated with the gaming machines. Most gaming companies have safety regulations in place, such as payout machines that eliminate the need for the store clerk to handle the prize money.

“Someone who lost a lot of money in these types of machines knew that this was a soft target, knew that there wasn’t a ticket redemption terminal or a payout machine, knew that there needed to be large amounts of money readily available to the cashier to pay out tickets,” Zimmerman told Casino Reports. “And this individual came in and shot and killed our client, Mr. Patel, and was in and out of the store within about 25 seconds with all the skill game money.”

Failure to follow safety guidelines?

The court sentenced Rodriguez to life without parole, but the Patel estate’s lawsuit claimed Pace-O-Matic and Miele should be held liable as well for putting him in the position to handle the gaming money.

As the developer of Pennsylvania Skill games, Pace-O-Matic dictates the rules to everyone within its enterprise, Zimmerman explained, including their operators, distributors, and locations.

“They have thousands of these locations, and they’re not giving any guidance to any of them about the risks that Pace-O-Matic knows can come with gaming operations,” Zimmerman said.

The lawsuit argued that Pace-O-Matic knew of proper safety regulations, but chose to ignore them to further its own bottom line. Zimmerman and Lang listed about 40 safety guidelines held by other casinos and gambling operators in the state that Pace-O-Matic knew of but did not comply with.

“The jury understood quickly that the enterprise and operation that Pace-O-Matic set up was dangerous, in place only to have large profits and benefits for people at the top, and people at the bottom were the ones that bore all the risk,” Zimmerman said.

Legal status of skill games

Pennsylvania Skill game machines can be found all over the state in convenience stores, gas stations, and truck stops that get around state gambling laws by adding a skill-based element.

In recent days, legislators in Pennsylvania have been exploring ways to bring skill games under a regulated structure in order to help with the state’s budget difficulties, although the latest proposed budget suggests that change is off the table.

The Patel lawsuit states: “For too long these so called ‘game of skill’ gambling machines have been allowed to insidiously rake in untaxed gambling revenue at the expense of vulnerable persons across Pennsylvania.”

Pace-O-Matic rejected the verdict in a statement released by the company on Tuesday, claiming that it held no responsibility for Patel’s death.

“Even though minimal responsibility was ascribed to Pace-O-Matic, it is an unfortunate outcome that we believe is without sufficient legal or factual precedent,” the Pace-O-Matic statement read. “As for the lawsuit filed by Mr. Patel’s estate, we will continue to maintain that Pace-O-Matic is not connected in any way with the actions involved in the crime.”

Pace-O-Matic plans to appeal the verdict — an appeal that Zimmerman said he expects the company to lose.

“I expect we’re going to be able to recover the verdict for a family who would like nothing more than to have their husband and father back rather than this money,” he said.