$15,000 in Fines Levied Against Two Casinos by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board for Regulatory Violations

HARRISBURG, Pa., Dec. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today levied fines against two casinos for regulatory violations.

The fines were the result of consent agreements between the PGCB's Office of Enforcement Counsel and:

• Harrah's Chester Downs Management Company, LLC, operator of Harrah's Chester Downs and Casino in Delaware County, for self-exclusion violations;  and,
• Presque Isle Downs, Inc., operator of Presque Isle Downs & Casino in Erie.

The fine levied against Harrah's Chester was $10,000 for permitting an individual on the PGCB's self-exclusion list to gain access to the gaming floor on two separate occasions:

• March 23, 2011 – gained access to the gaming floor and cashed a check for $100
• May 27, 2011 – gained access to the gaming floor and wagered at ten slot machines for a two-hour period.

The PGCB's Self-Exclusion Program, established in late 2006 permits problem gamblers to ban themselves from gambling at Pennsylvania casinos for 1-year, 5-years or a lifetime.  Individuals are not automatically removed from the list once the term of the exclusion ends, but must request removal by the Board.  Until that time, the person remains on the list and cannot gamble at a Pennsylvania casino.

Once a person is placed on the Self-Exclusion list, gaming facilities in the Commonwealth must refuse wagers from and deny any gaming privileges to a self-excluded person, and deny check cashing privileges, player club membership, complimentary goods and services, junket participation and other similar privileges and benefits to a self-excluded person.

To date, more than 3,100 individuals have requested to be self-excluded from Pennsylvania casinos.

The approved consent agreement with Presque Isle Downs resulted in a $5,000 fine and was based on the failure of the casino to upgrade slot machine software that had earlier been revoked through an order of the PGCB's Executive Director, a violation under section 461a.6 of the Board's regulations. The software was upgraded a short time later.

The next meeting of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is scheduled for 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, January 18, 2012, in the PGCB's Public Hearing Room located on the second floor of Strawberry Square in Harrisburg.  

About the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board:
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board was established in 2004 with the passage of Act 71, also known as the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act. Pennsylvania's first new state agency in nearly 40 years, the Gaming Control Board is tasked to oversee all aspects of the state's casino industry. The ten casinos in operation all offer both slot machine and table game gambling,  employ over 15,000 people, and collectively have generated $5.6 billion in tax and license fee revenue since the first casino opened in November 2006. A portion of that money is enabling property tax reduction for all Pennsylvania homeowners, providing needed funding to the Commonwealth's horse racing industry, funding grants for fire companies and water/sewer projects, and establishing a new stream of tax revenue to local governments for community projects. A wealth of information about the Gaming Control Board and Pennsylvania's gaming industry can be found at www.gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov. At this website, visitors can view videos of Board meetings and on the operation of the PGCB, obtain information on identifying a gambling problem and gaining assistance, look up future meeting schedules and past meeting transcripts, access an interactive map of casino locations, request a speaker for their group, along with much more information.

CONTACT: Doug Harbach or Richard McGarvey
(717) 346-8321

SOURCE Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board