Casino Operator Hit with Fine Sports Betting

Casino Operator Hit with Fine Over Proxy Sports Betting

By Blake Roberts Founder & Editor in Chief Updated: 15 July 2024

Blake Roberts Founder & Editor in Chief

Blake Roberts is the founder of Betting.US and is currently heading the creative team as Editor in Chief. Born and raised in Morgantown, West Virginia, Blake is a great sports fan, with football and basketball being his favorite. He’s our trusted voice for all betting-related matters.

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It has been reported that the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has issued a Philadelphia casino operator with a hefty fine following regulatory breaches.

The fine of $100,000 was handed out to Stadium Casino RE, LLC, which is the operator of Live! Casino and Hotel Philadelphia. According to reports, the fine was imposed as a result of the casino accepting proxy sports betting wagers from someone who was not actually present at the venue.

Reports claim that the casino took $287,000 worth of sports wagers in just over a week, with the bets being taken by phone. This is known as proxy betting, and it is a violation of the Pennsylvania Gaming Act. Under this act, casinos are not allowed to accept bets from any other person apart from the one placing the bet.

Employees Dismissed Over the Incident

It was further revealed that, as a result of the incident, three employees from the casino were dismissed. In addition, they had their gaming licenses revoked by regulators. The person who placed the proxy bets was placed on the state’s involuntary exclusion list, which means that they are now banned from gambling in any of the state’s casinos.

According to a report in PennLive,

The PCGB said in a release that such bets are considered “proxy wagers” and constitute a regulatory gaming violation. In addition, the board noted that the Pennsylvania Gaming Act specifically prohibits casinos from knowingly accepting a wager from any person other than the person making the wager.

At a recent PGCB meeting, it was revealed that several sportsbook employees at the casino had accepted 15 wagers from someone who was not present at the casino. The first few incidents came to light two years ago, and this was followed by an investigation that revealed another 12 incidents involving proxy betting.

Tom Diehl, the Vice President of the casino, said that several employees had managed to bypass anti-proxy betting processes by using their own personal phones. As a result, these employees were suspended and then dismissed. The casino carried out an internal investigation and self-reported the incident to regulators.

Measures Put into Place

Officials have now confirmed that a number of measures have been put into place to reduce the risk of similar incidents occurring in the future.

Among the measures that have been implemented are lowering the surveillance threshold for wagers to $10,000, banning personal cell phones from the sports betting area, and improving signage relating to the ban on proxy sports betting.

Company cell phones will be provided for use in the sports betting area to avoid the need for personal ones. The casino also plans to improve staff training in a bid to reduce the risk of this type of activity occurring in the future.

Regulators in Pennsylvania and other sports betting states have become increasingly stringent over regulatory breaches in recent years. Hefty fines such as this one have become commonplace where casinos are found to have seriously breached regulations.