The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has seized more than $400,000 from a retired Pennsylvania State Police corporal who formerly served as compliance director for Pace-O-Matic, the maker of controversial “Pennsylvania Skill” machines still being challenged as illegal unlicensed slot machines.
The IRS Criminal Investigation branch posted a notice of forfeiture last week listing $443,052 in cash and accounts seized from Rick Goodling, who worked as national director of compliance for Georgia-based Pace-O-Matic Inc.
A spokesman for Pace-O-Matic said Goodling resigned from his position with the company more than a month ago after company officials became aware of the IRS investigation regarding his personal tax filing.
“We have and will continue to cooperate fully with the IRS investigation and will continue to cooperate with law enforcement regarding this issue,” spokesperson Mike Barley said in a statement provided to the Capital-Star.
Pace-O-Matic is the state’s leading distributor of skill games, slot-like devices that supporters claim are not required to be licensed as slot machines because skill plays a role in the result. They are the subject of several ongoing court cases alleging that they are illegal, as well as a campaign to ban the unlicensed machines from the American Gaming Association and the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office last week filed a petition in the state Supreme Court to appeal a November Commonwealth Court decision that skill games are not gambling devices and therefore are not illegal.
