INDEPENDENT SKILL GAMING INTELLIGENCEA VYZE MEDIA PUBLICATION ↗
GamesOfSkillMag

CASH-PRIZE MACHINES.
BUSINESS. REGULATION.

Vendors & Machines
6 min read

Pace-O-Matic vs Banilla Games: How Their Payout Models Differ

By GamesOfSkillMag Editorial6 min read
This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed in our publication workflow. Learn more
Share
Two matte graphite metal cube blocks on an off-white surface, one tethered by a thin steel cable to a wall anchor with a lime-lit edge, the other sitting apart and untethered in flatter light.

Pace-O-Matic vs Banilla Games comes down to two opposite commercial structures: Pace-O-Matic owns its machines and shares revenue with the host location, while Banilla sells machines outright for a flat price and exits the revenue relationship. The companies also differ in how outcomes are programmed, which shapes their competing payout claims.

Two Business Models: Ownership Versus Outright Sale

Pace-O-Matic does not sell its machines to operators. According to the company's own materials, it installs skill machines at host locations at no upfront cost, covers installation and maintenance, and then shares proceeds with the host (Pace-O-Matic, "How Skill Games Help Locations Increase Revenue"). A trade-press profile in NACS Magazine describes that arrangement in more detail, reporting that Pace-O-Matic states the operator or host location keeps more than 80 percent of revenue generated (NACS Magazine, September 2023). Neither source specifies one uniform revenue-share percentage across all locations.

Banilla Games takes the opposite approach. In a 2020 interview, a Banilla representative told the gambling-analysis site Wizard of Vegas that the company sells machines outright to distributors, reported at the time in a range of roughly 5,000 to 10,000 dollars per unit, and that Banilla itself retains no ongoing revenue stake once a unit is sold (Wizard of Vegas, "Banilla Ain't Vanilla!," Sept. 11, 2020). Some Banilla distributors separately offer their own revenue-share placement deals with venues, but that is a distributor-level arrangement, not Banilla corporate policy.

For an operator, that distinction changes who bears equipment cost and who keeps an ongoing financial interest in a machine's performance.

How Spins and Outcomes Are Programmed

Both companies describe their games as producing a fixed, predetermined set of outcomes over a cycle rather than an independent random result on each play, which is central to each company's "game of skill" legal positioning (Wizard of Vegas, "Skill Games Semi-Definitively"). The two companies implement that idea differently.

Pace-O-Matic's machines are "seeded" with a finite, fixed batch of spins tied to a given game and bet amount. Once that batch is exhausted, the operator must purchase a new batch of spins to continue offering play, according to a Pace-O-Matic representative interviewed by Wizard of Vegas (Wizard of Vegas, "Pace-O-(Auto)Matic," Aug. 20, 2020). Banilla instead programs a fixed pool of outcomes that cycles and repeats indefinitely once installed, with no reseeding required, per the Banilla representative quoted in the company's Wizard of Vegas interview.

Payout Percentage Claims: Company-Reported, Not Independently Audited

Both companies make payout claims that come from company statements or company representatives, not from an independent regulator or auditor, and should be read that way.

Pace-O-Matic promotes a "Follow Me" bonus feature on its Pennsylvania Skill machines, a Simon Says-style color sequence that, when completed successfully after a loss, pays back the original bet plus 5 percent, for a total return of 105 percent on that play (Wizard of Vegas, "Pace-O-(Auto)Matic"). The company has stated its machines can return more than the wager on "each and every play" through mechanisms like Follow Me, a claim it contrasts with Pennsylvania-regulated slot machines' required 85 to 100 percent return range.

Banilla representatives told Wizard of Vegas that the company's standard configurable return-to-player runs about 90 to 98 percent depending on bet amount, with perfect play on certain games returning around 104 percent (Wizard of Vegas, "Banilla Ain't Vanilla!"). Pennsylvania Skill also cited a record 6.4 billion dollars in statewide gaming revenue for the 2024 to 2025 fiscal year in a July 2025 press release (GlobeNewswire, July 24, 2025), but that figure describes Pennsylvania's overall gaming market as reported by the state Gaming Control Board and casinos, not a Pace-O-Matic-specific revenue number, and operators should not conflate the two.

Neither company's business model nor any single state's ruling establishes that its machines are lawful everywhere, including Texas. The two companies' legal records diverge by state and by year.

In Iowa, a 2018 regulatory and judicial proceeding found that Banilla's "Superior Skill" devices rely more on chance than skill, and the state rejected Banilla's request for a declaratory order classifying the games as skill-based (Banilla Games, Inc. v. Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals, Iowa Supreme Court, 2018). In Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth Court ruled in July 2023 that Banilla's Keystone Skill machines are not illegal gambling devices, and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declined to review that ruling on March 25, 2024, leaving it in place (Yogonet, March 25, 2024).

Those two outcomes do not add up to one national verdict on Banilla's product, and neither says anything about Pace-O-Matic's separate legal record or either company's status under Texas law. Operators evaluating either vendor for Texas should treat a favorable ruling elsewhere as context, not a determination of legality where they operate.

Questions to Ask Before Signing With Either Vendor

The business-model and mechanics differences above translate into concrete diligence questions: who owns the machine and covers maintenance, how spin or outcome pools are structured and whether reseeding interrupts play, what payout range is guaranteed versus marketed, and what documentation the vendor can provide for its legal status in the operator's specific state. The vendor comparison checklist helps operators record those questions and the evidence a vendor provides. It documents diligence; it does not confer legal approval, verify a vendor's claims, or predict machine profitability.

Sources

Reporting is for information, not legal advice. A vendor listing or the term skill game does not establish a machine's legality in any jurisdiction.

Frequently asked questions

Does Pace-O-Matic sell its skill machines to operators?

No. Pace-O-Matic installs machines at host locations at no upfront cost and shares revenue with the host instead of selling the equipment outright, according to the company's own materials and a 2023 NACS Magazine profile.

How much does a Banilla Games machine cost?

A Banilla representative told Wizard of Vegas in 2020 that the company sells machines outright to distributors in a range of roughly 5,000 to 10,000 dollars per unit, with no ongoing revenue stake retained after the sale.

What does it mean that Pace-O-Matic spins are "seeded"?

It means each game and bet amount is assigned a finite, fixed batch of spins. Once that batch is used up, the operator must purchase a new batch to keep offering the game, according to a Pace-O-Matic representative interviewed by Wizard of Vegas.

Are Banilla Games machines legal?

It depends on the state and the ruling in question. Iowa regulators found Banilla's games rely more on chance than skill in a 2018 proceeding, while Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Court found Banilla's machines are not gambling devices in a 2023 ruling left standing in March 2024. Neither decision applies outside its own state.

Are the payout percentages Pace-O-Matic and Banilla advertise independently verified?

No. Figures such as Pace-O-Matic's 105 percent Follow Me bonus and Banilla's 90 to 98 percent configurable return range come from company statements or company representatives, not from an independent regulator or auditor.

Pace-O-Matic vs Banilla Games: Payout Models Compared | GamesOfSkillMag