Pennsylvania fines two casinos over giving away too much complimentary slot play
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board levied $140,000 in fines against Mount Airy Casino Resort and Rivers Casino Philadelphia for violations related to complimentary free slots play.
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State gaming regulators on Wednesday levied $140,000 in fines against Mount Airy Casino Resort and Rivers Casino Philadelphia for violations related to free slot machine play.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board signed off on consent agreements in which the two casinos acknowledged their employees gave out more complimentary slot play to patrons than permitted. Casinos are allowed to give away free slot play as a marketing tool, but the casinos must have an approved plan that sets limits on who can issue the complimentary awards, and for how much.
Rivers Casino, which was fined $47,500, made 405 erroneous awards from 2015 to 2016 of free slot play totaling about $26,000, according to the settlement. The erroneous awards amounted to about 1.3% of the nearly 32,000 awards of free slot play during the two years, the gaming board said.
Mount Airy Casino Resort in the Poconos was fined $92,500 after an audit found that 10 employees issued 491 excessive awards totaling $262,500 from 2013 to 2015.
One employee, Ashley Brosius, a VIP coordinator at the casino, conspired with patrons to steal $140,000 in free slots play. She pleaded guilty to federal money-laundering charges in 2017, and was sentenced to two years' probation.
Brosius created duplicate player club cards for high rollers and loaded them with free slots play, and then exchanged the duplicates for cash with coconspirators. The scheme was discovered when a patron reported that free slots play that had been issued on the card was no longer on the card.
As part of the consent agreements, both casinos agreed to tighten controls on authorizations for complimentary play.
The gaming control board conducted an audit of all the complimentary slot play programs at all Pennsylvania casinos, which ended in 2018. The consent agreements with Mount Airy and Rivers Casino Philadelphia were signed in March, but did not come before the board for final approval because of complications from the COVID-19 emergency.