PRESS RELEASE

HARRISBURG, PA: The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) today approved consent agreements between the PGCB’s Office of Enforcement Counsel and two licensed manufacturers plus four casino operators resulting in a total of $238,500 in fines. The Board also approved the placement of another adult on its Involuntary Exclusion List for choosing to gamble in a casino while leaving a young child in a car.

The consent agreements approved today are as follows:

• Gaming Partners International USA, Inc. and GPI Mexicana S.A. de C.V., fines each of $85,500, for failure to timely file audited financial statements;
• Washington Trotting Association, LLC, operator of Hollywood Casino at the Meadows in Washington County, a fine of $40,000 for the overservice of alcohol;
• Downs Racing, L.P., operator of Mohegan Sun Pocono Casino in Luzerne County, a fine of $10,000 for a self-exclusion violation;
• Sugarhouse HSP Gaming, LP, operator of Rivers Casino Philadelphia, a fine of $10,000 for permitting an underaged individual to gain access to the gaming floor and gamble; and,
• Holdings Acquisition Co., LP, operator of Rivers Casino Pittsburgh, a fine of $7,500 for using revoked software for certain slot machines.

FINE DETAILS

Gaming Partners International USA, Inc. and GPI Mexicana S.A. de C.V. both hold Table Game Manufacturer Licenses. As such, each of the entities are required by law to submit an audited annual financial statement to the PGCB no later than 90 days after the end of its 2019 and 2020 fiscal years. The Board discovered that the required reports for both entities were received late.  In the case for the 2019 reports, those were received 610 days late and for 2020 those were received 245 days late. Pursuant to PGCB precedent with incidents of late filings of audited financial statements by other licensed entities, a fine of $100 per day was assessed from the due date to the date in which the proper filings were received. This resulted in fines of $85,500 for each of the two license holders.

Washington Trotting Association was assessed a $40,000 fine for two incidents in which Hollywood Casino at the Meadows personnel served alcohol to visibly intoxicated persons. In one incident, the patron was served 17 draft beers during a period of 12 hours 44 minutes which led to that individual falling and being injured. The second incident saw a patron served 5 mixed drinks, 3 shots and a beer in the period of 3 hours and 29 minutes and led to that individual physically assaulting two patrons and two security guards at the casino. Pursuant to its PCGB-approved Compulsive and Problem Gambling Plan, Hollywood Casino at the Meadows must prevent visibly intoxicated patrons from entering and remaining on the gambling floor.

The $10,000 fine against Downs Racing, L.P. stemmed from an incident in which Mohegan Sun Pocono personnel failed to stop an individual on the PGCB’s Self-Exclusion list from both gambling at slot machines and cashing a check.  Pursuant to PGCB regulations, a casino must identify self-excluded patrons and refuse gaming privileges and other gaming-related activities such as the cashing of checks.

The incident that led to a fine of $10,000 against Sugarhouse HSP Gaming, LP involved a 20-year-old individual who gained entrance to the gaming floor at Rivers Casino Philadelphia and participated in table games gambling.

The fine of $7,500 against Holdings Acquisition Co., LP stemmed from Rivers Casino Pittsburgh personnel failing to install replacement software on a dozen slot machines as instructed by the PGCB’s Bureau of Gaming Laboratory Operations. The failure did not result in any additional regulatory violations involving the legal play of those slot machines.

Copies of the approved Consent Agreements offering more detail on each of the matters are available upon request through the PGCB’s Office of Communications.

The Board was also presented with an incident in which an adult left a 7-year-old child in an unattended vehicle in the parking lot of Presque Isle Casino in Erie County while he gamed in the casino’s sportsbook facility. This behavior led to the approval today by the Board of the placement of this individual on the PGCB’s Involuntary Exclusion List that prohibits individuals from entering and gambling at all Pennsylvania casinos.

Since 2011, 135 individuals have been placed on the Involuntary Exclusion list for this type of incident.

The Board reminds the public to not leave children unattended in the parking lot or garage, a hotel, or other venue in order to gamble at a casino, not only because of the possible exclusion from all Pennsylvania casinos and prosecution, but more importantly due to the safety hazard to the child.

The next meeting of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is scheduled for 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, May 18, 2022 in the PGCB’s Public Hearing Room located on the second floor of the Strawberry Square Complex in Harrisburg.

About the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is tasked to oversee all aspects of gambling involving 16 land-based casinos, online casino games, retail and online sports wagering, and Video Gaming Terminals (VGTs) at qualified truck stops, along with the regulation of online fantasy sports contests.

The land-based casino industry in Pennsylvania consists of six racetrack (Category 1) casinos, five stand-alone (Category 2) casinos, two resort (Category 3) casinos and three mini-casinos (Category 4).  Casino expansion will continue over the next couple of years with the anticipated openings of up to two additional Category 4 casinos. A significant job generator in the Commonwealth, casinos and the other types of Board-regulated gaming is expected to generate over $2 billion in tax revenue during the 2021/2022 State Fiscal Year.

Additional information about both the PGCB’s gaming regulatory efforts and Pennsylvania’s gaming industry can be found at https://gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov. You can also follow the agency on Twitter by choosing @PAGamingControl.