Eastern Pennsylvania Casino Fined $55,000 By PGCB
for Two Regulatory Violations
HARRISBURG, PA: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today approved fines totaling $55,000 against Harrah’s Chester Downs and Marina, LLC, operator of Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack in Delaware County, for two separate violations.
The fines were the result of approved Consent Agreements between its Office of Enforcement Counsel and Harrah’s.
The larger of the fines, $50,000, was the result of a failure by Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino and Racetrack to provide a list of all its employees who conduct business on behalf of the facility with gaming junket representatives, and submit required reports of the operations of gaming junkets at its facility. Additionally, Harrah’s Philadelphia failed to submit for approval an amendment to its internal controls to reflect the usage of gaming junkets.
A Gaming Junket is an arrangement whereby a person or a group of persons is introduced to a casino operator through a junket promoter who receives a commission from the casino operator. Junket representatives must be licensed by the Gaming Control Board.
A second fine of $5,000 against Harrah’s Philadelphia was also approved after an investigation discovered that the casino paid an unregistered gaming services provider during 2014.
The next meeting of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is scheduled for 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, May 20, 2015 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 and is tasked to oversee all aspects of the state’s casino industry. There are 10 stand-alone and racetrack casinos in operation, along with the two resort casinos. These facilities collectively employ 17,200 people and generate an average of $3.7 million per day in tax revenue from slot machine and table games play. The largest portion of that money is used for property tax reduction to all Pennsylvania homeowners with additional tax revenue going to the horse racing industry, economic development projects, fire companies, county fairs, water and sewer projects, the Commonwealth’s General Fund, and to local governments that host casinos.
Additional information about both the PGCB’s regulatory efforts and Pennsylvania’s gaming industry can be found at www.gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov. You can also follow the agency on Twitter by choosing @PAGamingControl.
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