The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) handed out a series of fines for violations PA casinos committed at its monthly meeting last week.
The three casinos fined included:
- Mount Airy Casino
- Mohegan Pennsylvania
- Rivers Casino Philadelphia
Mount Airy Casino received the largest fine at $120,000.
Mount Airy Casino fined $120,000 for audit delay
The PGCB fined Mount Airy Casino $120,000 for failure to timely submit internal audit plans. Mount Airy is required to submit to the board’s Bureau of Gaming Operations its annual internal audit plan by Jan. 31 of each calendar year and has been late for several years.
From the PGCB meeting, here’s a breakdown of Mount Airy’s tardiness over the years:
- 2018: 124 days late
- 2020: 908 days late
- 2021: 542 days late
- 2022: 148 days late
There have been several audits since 2017 that have either been late or not submitted entirely:
- Marketing promotions
- Complementary goods and services
- Surveillance
- Food and beverage revenue
- Mid-year and year-end verification accountability
The PGCB dropped the hammer on Mount Airy, not only monetarily, but also verbally at the meeting. Commissioner Sara Manzano-Díaz said the following to Mount Airy Casino General Manager Ben Koff:
“You’ve had a total systematic failure, and there’s no other way to put it. This is totally unacceptable. Quite frankly, I’m looking at this consent agreement and I’m not sure it goes far enough.”
After Koff took a beating from the PGCB, he noted a culture change at the casino and hired a new Director of Internal Audit. Koff, who was hired in January, has accepted all responsibility and did not negotiate the terms of the fine.
“We take full responsibility for the failures here,” Koff said before the PGCB. “There are no excuses and there’s no wiggling around it. When we are wrong, we are wrong.”
Mohegan Pennsylvania receives fine over employee license issues
The PGCB fined Mohegan Pennsylvania $20,000 for two incidents in which supervisory employees worked without the proper board-issued permit.
The first incident happened in 2016 when a Mohegan Pennsylvania hired a call center reservationist. After a series of promotions that led to a players club supervisor role in 2019, the employee did not have the required Gaming Level II Occupation permit. This employee went 1,181 days without the proper permit.
The second incident happened in 2018 when Mohegan Pennsylvania hired a players club representative. This employee also did not have the proper Gaming Level II Occupation permit when the casino promoted the individual to players club supervisor. The employee went 752 days without the proper permit.
Mohegan Pennsylvania implemented additional internal checks and balances to make sure any employees receiving promotions are properly licensed going forward.
Rivers Casino Philadelphia fined for cheating incident
The PGCB fined Rivers Casino Philadelphia $7,500 for not properly notifying its security and surveillance staff, along with law enforcement, about an alleged cheating incident at a table game involving marked cards.
In December 2021, a player won $1,278 by bending cards to create creases in them at a table game in the casino. Table games management failed to properly report the incident to the Bureau of Casino Compliance.
The player was permanently banned from Rivers Casino Philadelphia.
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