Blairsville man banned from casinos for leaving two minors unattended
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said Wednesday that a Blairsville man was placed on the Involuntary Exclusion List for every casino in the commonwealth.
A spokesman for the board said the man was put on that list at the board’s regular meeting in Harrisburg after he left two minors, aged 6 and 8, unattended in a vehicle in the parking lot of Live! Casino Pittsburgh near Greensburg.
The board said the man spent 13 minutes at the casino near Westmoreland Mall while he gambled at slot machines.
He was one of four adults cited by the gaming board’s Office of Enforcement Counsel for leaving a total of six minors unattended in order to engage in gaming activities.
Spokesman Douglas Harbach said the board’s actions serve as a reminder that adults are prohibited from leaving minors unattended in the parking lot or garage, a hotel, or other venues at a casino since it creates a potentially unsafe and dangerous environment for the children.
“Leaving minors unattended at a Pennsylvania casino also subjects the offending adult to criminal prosecution in addition to exclusion from all Pennsylvania casinos,” Harbach said.
“To complement the efforts by casinos to mitigate this issue, the Board created an awareness campaign, ‘Don’t Gamble with Kids.’”
Others cited by the OEC included a male patron who left a one-year-old child unattended in a locked vehicle with an outside temperature of 84 degrees in the parking lot of Valley Forge Casino Resort in Montgomery County.
The child was left in that vehicle for nine minutes while that adult went to gamble in the sportsbook and at a table game.
Pennsylvania State Police broke a car window to extract the child and the patron later attempted to flee in the vehicle, which contained illegal drugs, until police detained and removed him.
Two women also were placed on the Involuntary Exclusion List.
One was for leaving two minors, aged 10 and 13, unattended in a vehicle in the parking garage of Live! Casino Philadelphia for 24 minutes while she gambled at slot machines.
The other left a 13-year-old unattended in the Sky Bridge hallway of Mohegan Pennsylvania Casino for 10 minutes while she gambled at slot machines.
The PGCB also approved two consent agreements where casinos were assessed $45,000 in fines:
• Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association LLC, operator of Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in Dauphin County, was assessed a $40,000 fine for three instances in which individuals under the age of 21 accessed the gaming floor and gambled.
• Lightning Gaming Inc., a licensed slot machine manufacturer headquartered in Delaware County, was assessed a $5,000 fine for failure to notify the board of material changes to their financial status.
