RGB Inc., operating as Godwin Music, sentenced over video sweepstakes machines
RGB Inc., a North Carolina corporation doing business as Godwin Music and Raleigh Amusements, was sentenced in March 2017 to four years of probation and ordered to forfeit $2,334,500 plus a $150,000 fine after pleading guilty to conducting an illegal gambling business through video sweepstakes machines placed in convenience stores, restaurants and bars across eastern North Carolina. Related gambling charges against the company's individual owners were dismissed as part of the plea.
- Year
- 2017
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $2.5 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- Sweepstakes casino scams
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-10
The facts, as recorded
- RGB, Inc., doing business as Godwin Music in Selma, North Carolina and Raleigh Amusements in Garner, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to Conducting an Illegal Gambling Business and was sentenced the same day, March 16, 2017.
- Chief US District Judge James C. Dever III sentenced RGB, Inc. to 4 years probation; the company paid $2,334,500 in forfeiture and a $150,000 fine.
- RGB had been named in a Second Superseding Indictment filed August 11, 2015, after an original indictment on June 9, 2015.
- The charges related to RGB's operation of a gambling business involving video sweepstakes machines, including games styled as video poker, video keno, video lotto and eight-liner, placed in convenience stores, restaurants, bars and other businesses across eastern North Carolina.
- Pursuant to the plea agreement, the government moved to dismiss the related gambling charges against the company's individual owners, David Ricky Godwin and David Ricky Godwin, Jr., and the court dismissed those charges.
- US Attorney John Stuart Bruce announced the sentence; the investigation was conducted by North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement, IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI.
Why this case matters
This case shows the sweepstakes-cafe model operating at street level rather than through a single software vendor: RGB placed its own machines directly into existing convenience stores, restaurants and bars, spreading the gambling terminals across a wide retail footprint instead of running dedicated cafe locations.
A sentence that landed only on the corporation
The government’s plea agreement dismissed the gambling charges against the company’s individual owners, David Ricky Godwin and his son David Ricky Godwin, Jr., in exchange for RGB, Inc. itself pleading guilty. The $2,334,500 forfeiture and $150,000 fine, along with four years of probation, were imposed on the corporate entity; no individual went to prison in this particular resolution.
The caveat
RGB, Inc. was convicted by guilty plea and sentenced the same day, a matter of public record. The dismissal of the individual charges against the two Godwins is also part of that public record and should not be read as any finding about their conduct one way or the other; those specific charges were simply not pursued once the corporate plea was entered.
Sources
- RGB, INC. Pleads Guilty and is Sentenced for Gambling Violations. US Attorney's Office, Eastern District of North Carolina. Accessed 2026-10-10. Supports: The company name and trade names, the sentencing date and terms, the forfeiture and fine amounts, the indictment dates, the game types, and the dismissal of the individual Godwin defendants' charges.