Former Pace-O-Matic compliance director facing racketeering charges

A former Pennsylvania State Police corporal who worked as national compliance director for Georgia-based skill games manufacturer Pace-O-Matic is facing racketeering charges. Rick Goodling, who headed the gambling unit for 15 years, is accused by Pennsylvania prosecutors of using his position to aid the proliferation of these controversial video gambling devices across the commonwealth.

The former executive, who worked for the company until 2023, was charged last month by the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office with racketeering and related offenses, reports the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. The charges follow a years-long undercover Pennsylvania State Police investigation. 

Goodling is accused of operating “an illegal scam to obtain large sums of money that were derived from illegal gambling activities." Prosecutors allege he abused his position at Pace-O-Matic to obtain more than $500,000 in bribes in return for suppressing complaints about illegal slot machines, as well as supplying Pace-O-Matic games to distributors and operators who had violated the company’s regulations.

Also charged are three employees of Deibler Brothers Novelty Co., which prosecutors say distributed illegal gambling machines in 15 Pennsylvania counties. The distributor had been banned by Pace-O-Matic for offering its machines alongside illegal slots, according to the complaint. However, prosecutors claim Goodling enabled other Pace-O-Matic clients to provide Deibler Brothers with the company’s games.

After complaints were raised by other Pace-O-Matic clients to the manufacturer's compliance team, Goodling reportedly abused his position to make the protests disappear. However, some of them also filed reports to the FBI and state police, leading to a yearslong undercover investigation.

As part of the investigation, a detective infiltrated Pace-O-Matic's compliance team, composed of former state troopers and liquor enforcement officers, for several years. Goodling worked with the undercover trooper to allow other Pace-O-Matic operators to provide the company’s machines to Deibler Brothers, reports indicate.

Pace-O-Matic is Pennsylvania’s largest supplier of controversial skill games. Manufacturers argue skill games cannot be classed as slots or illegal gambling devices because the skill-based features they contain predominate over chance. State lawmakers have floated measures to either regulate and tax skill games or ban them outright, but for the time being they keep operating in a grey area.

Pace-O-Matic told the Capital-Star in a statement that it is "deeply troubled" by the charges against Goodling, whom the company dismissed after it became aware of an investigation in late 2023. 

“While we are monitoring the situation, law enforcement has assured us that Pace-O-Matic is not involved in or connected with any of the alleged actions or charges facing Mr. Goodling,” a Pace-O-Matic spokesperson said in the statement.