Fines totaling $120,000 levied against two Pennsylvania casino operators

Fines totaling $120,000 against two of the state’s casino operators were approved by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) at the regulator’s latest meeting.

The fines came after the Board approved the sanctions at its public meeting of consent agreements held on October 30, 2019, between the Harrisburg PGCB’s Office of Enforcement Counsel and the two operators.

According to the official press release from the PGCB…

The smaller of the two fines, $10,000 is the amount the Washington Trotting Association, LLC, operator of the Meadows Racetrack and Casino located in Washington County, received due to employees working while their gaming licenses were expired.

Meanwhile, a heftier $110,000 fine was issued to Downs Racing, L.P., the operator of the Mohegan Sun Pocono in Luzerne County, for underage gaming violations.

In early October, the Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment subsidiary was slammed with a $150,000 fine for not meeting minimum staffing levels for its security staff on 91 days between January 3 and April 28 of this year.

Current infraction details:

The fine levied against the Mohegan Sun Pocono operator resulted from four incidents where the gaming floor at the property in the city of Wilkes-Barre was accessed by individuals under the legal age of 21, including:

• A 17-year-old male gained access onto the gaming floor and wagered at slot machines and attempted to place a bet at a table game
• An 18-year-old female gained access onto the gaming floor and wagered at slot machines
• A 19-year-old male gained access onto the gaming floor and wagered at table games
• A 19-year-old female gained access onto the gaming floor on seven consecutive days, was issued a players card, wagered at slot machines and table games, and was served alcohol and cashed out at the cage.

The lessor of the fines levied against the Washington Trotting Association, LLC, reportedly resulted from a pair of incidents where casino employees were allowed to work even though their gaming licenses had expired and sans Board authorization.

The PGCB will hold its next regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday, November 20, 2019.

Prior to the last two fines, Mohegan Sun Pocono had not been sanctioned since September 2018 when the eastern state’s gaming regulator hit the destination resort with a $50,000 fine for failing ‘to prevent the serving of alcohol to visibly intoxicated patrons’ and allowing such customers to subsequently participate in ‘gaming activities.’ The incident reportedly took place inside the Luzerne County facility on September 11, 2017, and on October 28, 2017.

Sports wagering up:

In related news, according to figures released on October 17, 2019, by the PGCB, activity during September in Pennsylvania‘s sports wagering industry increased significantly over the previous month of August, with total revenue derived via retail and online sportsbooks totaling $14,888,872, or 143.5 percent above August revenue of $6,115,016. While the amount wagered in September and derived through online and retail sportsbooks totaled $194,504,622 of 78.4 percent above August’s handle of $109,038.