Parx Casino Fined $25,000 By the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

HARRISBURG, PA: Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment, Inc, operator of the Parx Casino in Bucks County, agreed to fines totaling $25,000 for two separate matters, one in which an underage individual was permitted entry onto the gaming floor and gambled, and the other stemming from a failure of the company to disclose to the Board the existence of a service agreement.

The fines were the result of approvals today by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board of consent agreements between the PGCB’s Office of Enforcement Counsel and the casino license holder.

In one incident which resulted in a $15,000 fine, an 18-year-old male was permitted onto the gaming floor in July 2012 without having ID checked, then later participated in gambling at a blackjack table. The underage individual was on the casino floor for approximately six hours.

The Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act provides that it is unlawful for persons under 21 years of age to wager, play or attempt to play slot machines or table games, nor enter and remain in any area of a licensed facility where slot machines are operated or the play of table games is conducted.

The Board also approved a consent agreement that resulted in a $10,000 fine to Greenwood Gaming and Entertainment. This fine was the result of the company entering into an agreement with a separate corporation, Greenwood Table Games Services, Inc. (GTGS), without either proper notification or licensing of that entity. The existence of GTGS was, instead, uncovered by the Board’s Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement upon review of Greenwood’s audited financial reports. GTGS was later approved for licensure as an affiliate entity.

The next meeting of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is scheduled for 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, March 13, 2013 in the PGCB’s Public Hearing Room located on the second floor of Strawberry Square in Harrisburg.

About the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board:
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board was established in 2004 with the passage of Act 71, also known as the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act. Pennsylvania’s first new state agency in nearly 30 years, the Gaming Control Board is tasked to oversee all aspects of the state’s casino industry. The 11 casinos in operation all offer both slot machine and table game gambling, employ over 16,000 people, and collectively generate an average of $4 million per day in tax revenue. A portion of that money is used for property tax reduction to all Pennsylvania homeowners; provide funds to the Commonwealth’s horse racing industry, fire companies, a statewide water and sewer project grant program, and the state’s General Fund; and, established a new stream of tax revenue to local governments that host casinos for community projects.

A wealth of information about the Gaming Control Board’s regulatory efforts and Pennsylvania’s gaming industry can be found at www.gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov. At this website, visitors can watch Board meetings live or view videos of past meetings, look up future meeting schedules and past meeting transcripts, obtain information on identifying a gambling problem and gaining assistance, access an interactive map of casino locations, request a speaker for their group, along with much more information. You can also follow the agency on Twitter by choosing @PAGamingControl.

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