Casino Violations Result In $105,000 In Fines Levied By the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

HARRISBURG, PA: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today levied fines against two casino operators totaling $105,000 for various violations.

All of the fines were the result of consent agreements between the PGCB’s Office of Enforcement Counsel and the casino license holders which were approved by the Board at its public meeting in Harrisburg.

Three of the consent agreements approved by the Board today involved Holding Acquisition Co., LP, operator of the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, resulting in total fines of $100,000.

In the first, a Board investigation discovered a violation of the Rivers Casino’s internal controls which outlines procedures that must be followed in the Count Room. Specifically, the Rivers Casino personnel improperly allowed Table Inventory Slips to be corrected by Table Games Supervisors rather than utilizing an Error Notification Slip as prescribed in regulations. This violation resulted in a $50,000 fine.

A second fine involving the Rivers Casino was the result of three occurrences in which table games employees ignored an automatic shuffler’s red light which indicates an error with the cards. This violation of table games regulations resulted in a $40,000 fine.

The third fine, amounting to $10,000, stemmed from the mailing of Rivers Casino promotional materials to 93 persons on the PGCB’s Self-Exclusion List. Regulations state that a casino must have in place procedures for preventing a person on the Self-Exclusion List from being mailed any advertisement, promotion or other target mailing. In addition to the fine, a letter of apology has been sent to each of the individuals impacted by this error and violation.

Finally, a $5,000 fine was levied against Mount Airy #1, LLC, operator of the Mount Airy Casino Resort, for issuing a players card to a person on the Gaming Control Board’s Self-Exclusion List and allowing that individual to briefly gamble. While a person is on the Self-Exclusion List, gaming facilities in the Commonwealth must refuse wagers from and deny any gaming privileges to that person.

To date, more than 5,200 individuals have requested to be excluded from Pennsylvania casinos.

The next meeting of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is scheduled for 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, June 5, 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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