There never has been much doubt that the introduction — and continuing growth in numbers — of skill games in taverns and small shops across Pennsylvania would impact negatively some segments of the commonwealth’s “gambling infrastructure.”

Even now, with one major analysis for the Pennsylvania Lottery having been completed, the full skill-games impact probably is not known. Meanwhile, what the future might hold is uncertain in a troubling way.

At the same time, it is reasonable to speculate that the analysis’ chief finding might have ignored one significant, relevant component in what can be described as the big picture.

The analysis, using data collected by the Lottery and its vendor, Scientific Games, concluded that the Lottery has lost $650 million in scratch-off ticket sales since 2017, due to the skill-games expansion.

However, could it be that scratch-off ticket sales have declined due to a reduction in the total amount of prizes that the scratch-off games pay?

A year ago, at one Blair County business where scratch-off tickets are sold, the salesperson remarked, based on what they had observed, the total amount of ticket prizes per book had declined significantly.

Could customer frustration over buying losing tickets — and seemingly finding it to be more difficult to win even the purchase amount of a ticket — be a root cause of declining interest in the scratch-offs?

Two other important findings of the analysis in question, as reported in an article on the front page of last Tuesday’s Mirror:

¯ Over just the last 52 weeks analyzed, the Lottery lost $165 million in scratch-ticket sales to Games of Skill machines.

¯ The total lost-revenue figure since 2017 means that the Lottery generated $200 million less in proceeds that would have been allocated to programs that help senior citizens.

Skill Games are unregulated.

The casino industry is among those who want the Legislature to shut down the skill games, but it is the Legislature that is responsible for what many people in this state consider to be the commonwealth’s current gambling madness.

Therefore, do not look for any earth-shaking actions by the Legislature anytime soon, although maybe there should be.