{"id":243948,"date":"2022-11-17T18:58:52","date_gmt":"2022-11-18T00:58:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=243948"},"modified":"2022-11-18T03:17:50","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T09:17:50","slug":"pennsylvania-skill-games-caused-store-clerk-murder-says-victim-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pennsylvania-skill-games-caused-store-clerk-murder-says-victim-family\/","title":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Skill Games Caused Store Clerk Murder, Victim Family Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the night of December 12, 2020, in Hazelton Pennsylvania, a known local drug dealer, Jafet Rodriguez, entered Craig\u2019s Food Mart, according to Luzerne County prosecutors.<\/p>\n

\"Jafet
Jafet Rodriguez, left, was captured on security video just before he allegedly shot Ashokkumar Patel in cold blood. He escaped in a dark Jeep Grand Cherokee, right. (Image: Luzerne County DA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dressed in a red sweatshirt, black gloves, and a black face mask with white skull teeth, Rodriguez shoved the clerk, Ashokkumar Patel, 50, into a closet and allegedly shot him in cold blood.<\/p>\n

He proceeded to rob the store of more than $14,000, prosecutors claim, before fleeing into the night. Patel, a father of three, had been in the job for just one week. He managed to crawl to the phone to call 911 but died before he was connected.<\/p>\n

Now, Patel\u2019s family are suing the store\u2019s owners and the company that supplied them with controversial skill-gaming machines, Georgia-based Pace-O-Matic.<\/a><\/p>\n

They claim the presence of these \u201cillegal\u201d machines turned Craig\u2019s Food Mart, a gas station convenience store, into an \u201cunsafe mini casino.\u201d Albeit one that operated without the security measures that are expected of legal gaming operations.<\/p>\n

\u2018Killing Machines\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Rodriguez, who was arrested in January 2021, was a regular player of the store\u2019s gaming machines, according to the lawsuit. That\u2019s how he knew there would be a large amount of cash on the premises, kept for instant cash payouts, and virtually no security, the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n

There was no onsite private security, or even a bullet-proof shield or enclosure separating the employee from customers. Patel was mopping the floor when Rodriguez arrived, and totally vulnerable, according to his attorneys.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout the safety procedures and regulations, such as those at a licensed, regulated, taxed casino, violent criminals have identified these locations as soft targets with large amounts of cash,\u201d <\/strong>said the family\u2019s attorney Larry Bendesky in a statement.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThese illegal gambling devices\u00a0have a long and nefarious history in our Commonwealth\u2019s criminal justice history as magnets for violent criminals looking for an easy score,\u201d he added. \u201cAs a result, the combative, controversial industry that refers to these devices as \u2018skill games,\u2019 and their partners at gas stations and other small businesses unequipped to handle these operations, needs to be held accountable for what in this case was clearly a killing machine.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

The Patels\u2019 lawsuit includes claims of gross negligence and strict product liability that resulted from Patel’s death. It seeks compensatory damages, punitive or exemplary damages, interest and costs.<\/p>\n

Are Skill Games Illegal?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The lawsuit also argues Pace-O-Matic\u2019s gaming machines are illegal, which is currently a moot point in Pennsylvania and the subject of ongoing litigation.<\/p>\n

Pace-O-Matic and other suppliers argue their games can\u2019t be defined as slots or illegal gambling games because the element of skill involved outweighs the element of luck. That\u2019s because the machines employ skill-based features, such as bonus games that require players to memorize intricate patterns.<\/p>\n

In 2019, Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia McCullough ruled<\/a> Pace-O-Matic\u2019s games fitted the definition of slots as described in Pennsylvania\u2019s Gaming Act. But she also determined the company was not in violation of the Act because it was not applicable to unlicensed slot machines, just the licensed and regulated variety.<\/p>\n

Somewhat unhelpfully, she declined to be drawn out on whether the machines constituted \u201cillegal gambling devices.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the night of December 12, 2020, in Hazelton Pennsylvania, a known local drug dealer, Jafet Rodriguez, entered Craig\u2019s Food Mart, according to Luzerne County prosecutors. Dressed in a red sweatshirt, black gloves, and a black face mask with white skull teeth, Rodriguez shoved the clerk, Ashokkumar Patel, 50, into a closet and allegedly shot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":243949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[83776,82103,45,83775],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPennsylvania Skill Games Caused Store Clerk Murder, Says Victim Family<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Pace-O-Matic among defendants in lawsuit that blames Pennsylvania skill games for murder of Ashokkumar Patel.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pennsylvania-skill-games-caused-store-clerk-murder-says-victim-family\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pennsylvania Skill Games Caused Store Clerk Murder, Says Victim Family\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pace-O-Matic among defendants in lawsuit that blames Pennsylvania skill games for murder of Ashokkumar Patel.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pennsylvania-skill-games-caused-store-clerk-murder-says-victim-family\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-18T00:58:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-18T09:17:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Jafet.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"734\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pennsylvania-skill-games-caused-store-clerk-murder-says-victim-family\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pennsylvania-skill-games-caused-store-clerk-murder-says-victim-family\/\",\"name\":\"Pennsylvania Skill Games Caused Store Clerk Murder, Says Victim Family\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pennsylvania-skill-games-caused-store-clerk-murder-says-victim-family\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pennsylvania-skill-games-caused-store-clerk-murder-says-victim-family\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Jafet.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-18T00:58:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-18T09:17:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Pace-O-Matic among defendants in lawsuit that blames Pennsylvania skill games for murder of Ashokkumar Patel.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pennsylvania-skill-games-caused-store-clerk-murder-says-victim-family\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pennsylvania-skill-games-caused-store-clerk-murder-says-victim-family\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/pennsylvania-skill-games-caused-store-clerk-murder-says-victim-family\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Jafet.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Jafet.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":734,\"caption\":\"Jafet Rodriguez, left, was captured on security video just before he allegedly shot Ashokkumar Patel in cold blood. 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