Multiple individuals have been charged in an illegal gambling ring that allegedly involved hiding purely chance-based devices among controversial but legal skill gaming machines. Those charged include a former Pace-O-Matic (POM) employee and an undercover state trooper. Both parties also worked with two brothers of the Brother Novelty Co. and another employee from the company.
POM is the state’s foremost supplier of skill machines. Following recent court decisions, these devices are considered legal but are not regulated in the Keystone State. However, all of the individuals charged in this case are accused of introducing illegal machines and mixing them with gray-market skill machines.
POM’s games are “not gambling,” legally speaking, because they include an element of skill that requires players to exercise some meaningful decision-making in order to win. Any game that offers prizes purely based on chance is considered gambling and, therefore, illegal unless expressly licensed by the state, such as at one of its 17 retail casinos.
A huge debate has sparked in the state regarding the legality of POM’s game. The Commonwealth Court ruled the game as legal in December 2023. Now, POM is seeking regulation and just got help from a couple of Pennsylvania lawmakers, who filed memos expressing intent to do so.
Details involving illegal Pennsylvania gambling scheme
Ricky Goodling, a former POM employee, is the latest person to be charged in a ring involving illegal gambling machines. The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office charged Goodling with racketeering and other offenses last month.
According to the AG’s office, the former compliance director at POM would use his position to help Brother Novelty Co. install illegal gambling machines across 15 Pennsylvania counties. In the process, Goodling allegedly collected up to $500,000 in bribe money from Brother Novelty Co.
Arthur and Donald Deibler, owners of Brother Novelty Co., provided businesses with thousands of illegal gambling machines in 18 Pennsylvania counties.
POM had terminated a contract with Brother Novelty Co. because of a breach. Despite the parties splitting up, Brother Novelty Co. still had POM machines and mixed them in with the illegal games to come across as legitimate. The company allegedly went as far as to place fake skill game banners on the illegal machines to fool law enforcement.
Goodling had worked for POM starting in 2018 and was dismissed from his position in 2023 when the manufacturer became aware of the allegations. Shortly thereafter, in January 2023, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seized more than $400,000 from Goodling, triggering an avalanche of legal trouble.
According to the Coal Region Canary, Pennsylvania, authorities arraigned the Deibler brothers on Oct. 28 and Goodling on Dec. 5. Each faces multiple felonies.
The difference between illegal gambling devices and skill machines
Although they look similar, there’s an important difference between Pennsylvania skill games and the illegal machines alleged to have been installed by Goodling and his associates.
The only purely chance-based machines that are legal in Pennsylvania are casino slots and truck stop VGTs. Elsewhere, a machine, such as POM’s machines, needs to offer skill-based decision-making to be legal.
In an interview with NACS Magazine, POM CEO Paul Goldean described the difference:
“Games of chance, usually identified as slot machines or other video or mechanical type terminals found in casinos or in casino-type locations, put control over the outcome of gameplay into the hands of the terminal.
“Simply put, POM skill games place control in the hands of the player, while games of chance place control in the hands of a machine controlled by computer algorithms.”
Different skill game manufacturers employ different gimmicks to introduce the necessary element of skill. In POM’s games, it comes by way of a “Wild” symbol that the player can place freely. To form a winning combination, the player must identify where on the reels to place the machine. They then press on the machine’s touch screen in the correct spot to place their Wild and create a winning payline. This decision is also subject to a time limit, so the player must spot the winning combination quickly enough or else forfeit their prize.
The Commonwealth Court gave the following explanation when ruling in favor of skill games in December 2023:
“In light of our conclusion that the POM machines are not slot machines under the Crimes Code, we need not resolve this further dispute of the parties. Regardless of which interpretation is proper, because the POM machines are not slot machines, the POM machines are not illegal per se.”
Despite the ruling, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court announced in June that it would rule on the legality of skill machines in 2025.
Skill games continue to be a controversial topic within Pennsylvania, as elsewhere. The Commonwealth Court believed the games displayed enough of a distinction to be a game of skill, making them legal. However, the Supreme Court could still reverse that decision. In the meantime, various lawmakers are moving to either regulate the games or ban them entirely. So far, those efforts have canceled each other, and no bill has passed.
