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One of his casinos in Pennsylvania proves he’s not very good at it doing in brick-and-mortar facilities.
Fine for Sands Bethlehem
The Lehigh Valley News reported that “A New Jersey woman has been cited with underage gambling after being found on the gaming floor at Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem.”
This report came before the likely fine to Sands Bethlehem that will be handed out by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board after an investigation into the matter.
While it’s certainly difficult for casinos to be perfect on stopping underage gambling, it seems Sands has had more problems than most.
Not even close to the first time for Sands
There have been myriad examples of Sands earning fine for allowing underage gambling to take place in its casinos. The latest came in January, when the PGCB slapped Sands with a $50,000 fine.
If PA fines it for this latest instance, it will be the ninth such fine since Sands opened. The casino is approaching half a million dollars in fines for allowing minors to gamble. One time, Sands had three such instances in the same month.
MGM might not have to worry about more fines if a reported sale to MGM Resorts International goes through.
Casinos vs. online gambling on underage gambling?
The inability to stop minors from gambling at its land-based casino stands at odds with Adelson’s stance on online gambling.
The Las Vegas Sands chairman has lobbied for a federal ban on online gambling. One of the tenets of calling for such a ban? Online gambling sites can’t prevent children from placing bets on them, Adelson and other iGaming opponents claim.
That’s far from the truth. Online gambling sites require much more identification than a picture ID that land-based casinos use.
Additionally, New Jersey has had little problem with stopping minors from accessing online gambling sites since it started regulating it in 2013.
Pennsylvania is considering the legalization of PA online casinos in the legislature right now.