AG’s office says it seized hundreds of illegal gambling machines disguised as skill games

The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office announced Tuesday it seized hundreds of illegal gambling machines allegedly supplied to storefront casinos and other businesses by a pair of companies owned by a Pittsburgh man with prior convictions for illegal gambling.

The owner is also named in a 2024 grand jury presentment charging a former executive of skill game maker Pace-O-Matic with taking kickbacks for ignoring complaints to the company about illegal gambling machines.

The attorney general’s office said its agents and state troopers seized more than 400 illegal gambling devices from dozens of western Pennsylvania establishments in a series of raids in March.

J.J. Amusements and Buffalo Skill Games are each charged with a felony count of being a corrupt organization, according to court documents. No lawyers for the companies are named in the court filings.

”These devices were essentially slot machines dressed up as skill games,” Attorney General Dave Sunday said in a statement. “I commend our partners at the Pennsylvania State Police for helping disband a large-scale operation that netted a tremendous amount of illegal gambling profits.”

A search of the companies’ warehouse in Homestead, Allegheny County, uncovered $175,000 in cash and other signs of illegal gambling. The facility also had an elaborate surveillance system with dozens of monitors streaming live video and audio from the gambling locations, court documents say.

According to the charging documents, skill games are distinguishable from video gambling devices because they require players to use their judgment to win. The machines seized are similar to video slot machines, except that if only two symbols match, the machine prompts the player to “nudge” the third into place to recover their initial bet plus a small prize, the court documents say.

While a spokesman for the attorney general’s office said it is pursuing charges only against Conley’s companies, court records show Conley was charged last year with illegal gambling offenses by the Cumberland County district attorney’s office. An attorney for Conley identified in a court filing did not immediately return a call Wednesday.

Federal court records show Conley was convicted of gambling and money laundering in 1995.

Conley and his son, John D. Conley, are also named in court documents as the leaders of an illegal gambling enterprise that paid nearly $100,000 in kickbacks to Ricky Goodling, a former state police corporal, who worked as national compliance director for Georgia-based Pace-O-Matic until 2023. A spokesperson for Pace-O-Matic said the company fired Goodling when it learned of the investigation.

Goodling is charged with racketeering and related offenses that stem from a years-long state police investigation. Also charged in the case are three employees of Deibler Brothers Novelty Co., a Schuylkill County company that prosecutors say distributed illegal gambling machines in 15 central and eastern Pennsylvania counties.

The attorney general’s office alleges Goodling took more than $500,000 in kickbacks from the Conley organization, Diebler Brothers and other operators to quash complaints about illegal slot machines. Prosecutors also allege Goodling helped distributors of the illegal devices obtain Pace-O-Matic’s machines to attempt to disguise illegal machines and deflect law enforcement scrutiny.

A preliminary hearing for Goodling in Schuylkill County is scheduled for May 22.

Pace-O-Matic is the predominant operator of skill games in Pennsylvania.

A series of court decisions has established that skill games are distinct from gambling machines and not covered by the state Gaming Act. But Pace-O-Matic has been a proponent of legislation to regulate and tax the games to confirm their legal status.

Gov. Josh Shapiro said regulating skill games is one of his goals in this year’s budget. His spending planestimates taxing the devices would generate around $370 million, recouping money the state lottery and casinos have lost.