Pennsylvania Issues Online Gambling Fines

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board approved three consent agreements presented by the Board’s Office of Enforcement Counsel during its public meeting regarding violations in iGaming.

The total fines levied amounted to $60,000. The approved consent agreements resulted from negotiations between OEC and several online gambling operators.

Mountainview Thoroughbred Racing Association, LLC, operator of Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course, was fined $45,000 for allowing five individuals enrolled in the Board’s iGaming Self-Exclusion program to conduct gaming activity on its online Barstool Sportsbook. An interactive gaming certificate must refuse wagers from and deny gaming privileges and benefits to an individual who has placed themself on the iGaming Self-Exclusion List.

Downs Racing, L.P., operator of Mohegan Pennsylvania casino, and its iGaming partner Unibet Interactive, Inc., were jointly ordered to pay a fine of $7,500 for failure to suspend an interactive gaming account for an individual who had utilized one of the offered compulsive gambling tools and requested a temporary suspension of online gaming activities. In this instance, the individual requested a 90-day “cool off” period, but the request went unacknowledged by the operator, and the individual continued substantial gaming activity for 21 more days.

Evolution US, LLC, holder of an iGaming Manufacturer License, was fined $7,500 for an unlicensed employee dealing several blackjack games in its gaming studio for live dealer interactive gaming.

The Board also acted on petitions by OEC to ban two adults from all casinos in the Commonwealth for leaving children unattended to gamble.

A male patron was placed on the Involuntary Exclusion List after leaving a 12-year-old unattended in a running vehicle in the Presque Isle Downs & Casino parking lot while he wagered at the sportsbook; and,

A female patron was placed on the Involuntary Exclusion List after leaving a 14-month-old unattended in a running vehicle in the Valley Forge Casino and Resort parking lot while she wagered at the sportsbook.

“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.”

Regulators said that since the start of 2022 through February 2023, 331 incidents of adults leaving children unattended to gamble at Pennsylvania casinos involving 522 minors had been identified.