‘A Matter of Public Safety’: Phila. Firm Files Suit Against ‘Skill Game’ Company

The attorneys defending a store clerk, who was shot after a robbery, said crimes tied to the gambling devices are increasing across Pennsylvania.

A Philadelphia convenience store clerk who was shot during a robbery is suing the manufacturer of “skill game” gambling machines and the store itself, marking what attorneys say is the first lawsuit of its kind filed in Philadelphia County stemming from a robbery involving the gambling machines.

The lawsuit, Maham v. Banilla Games, was filed on March 2 in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas by the firm Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky on behalf of Ahmedein Maham, the clerk who was shot during a Sept. 14, 2025, robbery at the “Philly Market” convenience store on Bridge Street.

The suit names North Carolina-based manufacturer Banilla Games Inc., along with the store operators Bridge Market and Wireless, Philly Market, and property owner Eman Realty.

The complaint alleges that Banilla failed to design and manufacture its machines with safety features, such as ticket redemption terminals that handle payouts like an ATM and keep store workers out of the money-handling and payout process.

Attorneys for Maham contend that companies placing the machines in convenience stores create dangerous conditions because the locations typically lack the security measures required for traditional casinos.

“To us its a matter of public safety,” Robert Zimmerman, who is representing Maham alongside attorneys Larry Bendesky and John Lang, said. “The more these machines infiltrate the communities, the more at risk the communities will be unless reasonable safety measures are taken by the people who top these enterprises.”

Skill games have gained popularity across Pennsylvania in recent years, Zimmerman said, operating in a legal gray area while lawmakers debate whether and how to regulate them.

Lang said the growth of the machines has coincided with a rise in robberies targeting the cash they generate. “Violent armed robberies related to these games have, unfortunately, become a far-too-common occurrence in Pennsylvania and other states where the manufacturers find ways to avert regulation,” Lang said. “The gambling machine defendants are out to make as much profit as possible, while literally putting workers in the line of fire.”

Zimmerman said the state of Pennsylvania has roughly 70,000 skill game machines, including machines from both Banilla Games and Pace-O-Matic, the company the firm sued in its previous case.

The lawsuit follows a $15.3 million jury verdict secured by the same firm in a separate case involving the fatal shooting of a convenience store clerk during a robbery tied to skill games in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

The lawsuit seeks both a jury trial and an award in excess of $50,000 in compensatory and punitive damages, delay damages and other costs.