Posted on: February 10, 2026, 09:35h.
Last updated on: February 10, 2026, 08:38h.
- An illegal slot machine distributor has pleaded guilty in Pennsylvania
- The company was in cahoots with a skill game compliance director
- The company has forefeited $3 million in cash and assets to the state
An illegal gambling enterprise that duped small businesses across Pennsylvania into placing unregulated slot machines in their bars, restaurants, and convenience stores has pleaded guilty to a felony charge.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday says Schuylkill County-based Deibler Brothers Novelty Company admitted to a corrupt organizations charge. In exchange for the first-degree felony plea, a Schuylkill County Court of Common Pleas judge sentenced the firm to a term of probation and ordered forfeiture of $3 million in cash and assets.
This company was warned time and time again, and continued to snub its nose at state regulations by flooding Pennsylvania counties with illegal gambling machines,” said General Sunday. “This plea resolution secures a substantial forfeiture of assets to the Commonwealth, and is the second conviction in recent days against offenders contributing to the disorganized environment of illegal video gaming in Pennsylvania.”
The owners of Deibler Brothers Novelty, Arthur Deibler, Donald Deibler, and Joel Ney, were in cahoots with Ricky Goodling, the former director of national compliance with Pace-O-Matic (POM), who looked the other way upon detecting Deibler’s illegal slot machines in host establishments of legal skill games. POM is the company behind the popular Pennsylvania Skill games, which secured a 2023 ruling in a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court that determined the machines do not constitute gambling or slot machines and are therefore not illegal per se under the state’s Gaming Act.
Diebler Brothers primarily sells and distributes products to bars and restaurants, including ATMs, jukeboxes, pool tables, arcade machines, and bar-top games.
Pay to Look the Other Way
POM’s games combine elements of skill with chance. The machines Deibler Brothers were distributing did not, and were more traditional slots one would find inside one of the 17 brick-and-mortar casinos in the commonwealth.
As POM compliance director, Goodling, a former corporal with the Pennsylvania State Police, was to ensure that Pennsylvania Skill and other POM games were only operating in host businesses where illegal forms of gambling were not. Sunday’s office concluded that Goodling reported back to POM clean inspections on numerous businesses despite many hosting illegal slot machines.
Goodling pleaded guilty to a first-degree felony count of dealing in proceeds of unlawful activities. Sunday said Goodling accepted “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in payments from non-compliant distributors and operators instead of reporting non-compliance to POM.
In a statement to Casino.org, POM said it “immediately” severed Goodling’s employment upon first learning of the state investigation into his actions.
Pennsylvania Skill Game Dilemma
State government officials estimate that around 70,000 unregulated skill games are operating in Pennsylvania. Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) wants to regulate and tax them to fund his mission to increase education spending.
The legal gaming industry, chiefly, casinos and the Pennsylvania Lottery, oppose skill games on the argument that the machines poach revenue. There are also grave concerns that skill games are fueling higher rates of gambling addiction.
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