Gaming Control Board Fines Philadelphia Park For Permitting Underage Individuals On Gaming Floor

HARRISBURG: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today assessed Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment, Inc. (Philadelphia Park Casino and Racetrack) an $18,000 fine along with $8,000 in donations for programs dealing with problem gaming education, treatment and outreach for allowing underage individuals on their gaming floor.

Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment also agreed to increase the number of security posts, increase security staffing and provide retraining for all security staff to identify and evict underage individuals.

“Pennsylvania casinos have a statutory obligation to keep underage individuals off the gaming floor,” said Mary DiGiacomo Colins, Gaming Control Board Chair. “In these cases, Philadelphia Park breached that obligation, resulting in three children and one teen being on the gaming floor. The corrective actions approved by the Board today make it clear to all casinos that underage age gambling will not be tolerated.”

Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment, Inc. was cited for three instances in which persons under the age of 18 gained access to and remained on the gaming floor, and one instance where a 19 year old was able to play slot machines before being removed by security personnel.

The instances that constitute the violations are as follows:

• On March 3, 2007, a patron of Philadelphia Park and his five-year old granddaughter entered the first floor gaming area. While two security guards observed the patron and child, neither approached them. Within six minutes, two security managers did arrive at the scene and escorted the patron and child from the gaming floor.
• On September 16, 2007, a patron of Philadelphia Park and her four-year old son entered the third floor gaming area unnoticed even though they walked past a security post. The child was later observed sitting on the patron’s lap while the patron was playing a slot machine. Approximately ten minutes later security officers arrived at the scene and escorted the patron and child from the gaming floor.
• On September 24, 2007, a patron of Philadelphia Park and her two-year old son entered the third floor gaming area and walked past two security posts unnoticed. The patron and the child proceeded across the gaming area to the virtual blackjack slot machine area. Approximately one minute later a security officer escorted the patron and her child from the gaming floor.
• On October 12, 2007, a nineteen-year old individual entered the third floor gaming area of Philadelphia Park, sat at a slot machine and wagered for over an hour. The individual then moved to a different machine and operated that machine for one half hour. The individual then proceeded to the cashier’s cage and attempted to cash a gaming voucher. When asked for identification, the individual could not produce the document but admitted that he was nineteen years old. Security was alerted and the individual was escorted from the gaming floor.

Under its duty to protect the public through the regulation and policing of all activities involving gaming, the Board acts to take enforcement action after the Office of Enforcement Counsel investigates any matters involving either transgressions of the law or the Gaming Act.

For more information about the PA Gaming Control Board, you can visit its website at www.pgcb.state.pa.us

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