PA Gaming Control Board Imposes $100,000 Fine on BetMGM
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (Board) at its public monthly meeting approved a consent agreement presented by the Board’s Office of Enforcement Counsel (OEC) resulting in a $100,000 fine to BetMGM.
In its approval of the consent agreement, the Board agreed that BetMGM failed to have sufficient procedures to prevent fraudulent behavior on its BetMGM and Borgata wagering platforms. This includes insufficient Know-Your-Customer (KYC) protocols that allows for the creation, access and use of multiple accounts by individuals using personal identifying information of other individuals and the funding of those accounts using stolen or fraudulently obtained payment devices.
The consent agreement identified four individual fraud rings that:
1. operated for approximately 25 months until January 2024 with 1567 accounts created using personal identifying information of other individuals and $229,580 of combined wagering;
2. operated for approximately 34 months until November 2024 with 34 accounts created using personal identifying information of other individuals and over $14,598 of combined wagering;
3. operated for approximately 29 months until November 2023 with 119 accounts created using personal identifying information of other individuals and $895,092 of combined wagering
4. operated for approximately 19 months until December 2023 with 304 accounts created using personal identifying information of other individuals and $867,910 of combined wagering.
The Board also took actions to place 16 individuals on its various Involuntary Exclusion Lists. Placement on an Involuntary Exclusion List prohibits individuals from either gaming in a casino in Pennsylvania, via an online betting site regulated by the Board, or at a Video Gaming Terminal (VGT) location.
The actions by the Board include placement of four adults on the Involuntary Casino Exclusion list for leaving minors unattended at a casino property while they gambled:
• A male patron who left an 11-year-old in a vehicle in the parking lot at Hollywood Casino York for 52 minutes while he gambled at slot machines and table games;
• A male patron who left a 5-year-old in a vehicle in the parking lot at Rivers Casino Philadelphia for 17 minutes while he gambled at table games and the sportsbook;
• A male patron who left a 9-year-old in the parking lot at Rivers Casino Philadelphia for 1 hour 7 minutes while he gambled at table games and the sportsbook; and,
• A male patron who left two minors, ages 7 and 12, in a vehicle in the parking lot at Parx Casino for 32 minutes while he gambled at slot machines.
Actions such as these to deny statewide gambling privileges 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. To complement the efforts by casinos to mitigate this issue, the Board created an awareness campaign, “Don’t Gamble with Kids” (DontGamblewithKids.org).
In addition to the four adults listed above, 12 others were placed on either or both of the Involuntary Casino Exclusion and Involuntary Interactive Exclusion Lists for various actions.
These matters, presented by the Board’s Office of Chief Counsel and the OEC, raise the number of individuals now on the Board’s various Involuntary Exclusion Lists to 1515.
