PA Gaming Control Board Fines Casino $70,000 for Underage Patron Violations

HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board today fined Mount Airy #1 LLC, operator of Mount Airy Casino Resort in Monroe County, $70,000 for underage gambling violations.

The Board unanimously approved a consent agreement negotiated by the Office of Enforcement Counsel for two 2010 underage gaming violations at the Monroe County casino involving 15 and 16-year-old juveniles.

The fine for Mount Airy is its second by the Board for underage gaming violations.  In March of 2010, the Pocono-area casino was fined $100,000 for six underage gaming violations.  The agreement also mandated the purchase of eight identification scanning devices.  

The Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act provides that it is unlawful for persons under 21 years of age to wager, play or attempt to play a slot machine or table game at a licensed facility.

In these latest incidents, Mount Airy security self-reported one of the incidents but failed to report the second incident that was instead uncovered by a PGCB Casino Compliance Representative:

• February 28, 2010 – a 16-year-old female, accompanied by her mother, accessed the gaming floor and placed slot machine wagers for approximately 53 minutes before being apprehended by a casino security officer who properly notified authorities.
• August 22, 2010 – a 15-year-old female, accompanied by relatives, accessed the gaming floor and placed slot machine wagers for approximately seven minutes as well as sitting at three different gaming tables. In total, the underage female was on the gaming floor for three hours and 10 minutes before being apprehended by a PGCB Casino Compliance Representative.

The next regularly scheduled Board meeting is Wednesday, January 26, 2011, at the PUC Keystone Building, Hearing Room 1 in Harrisburg. The meeting will begin at 10:00 a.m.  An agenda for that meeting will be posted on the Board's web site, www.pgcb.state.pa.us, prior to the meeting.

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.  To date, with ten casinos in operation, legalized gaming in the Commonwealth has created, or helped race track facilities retain, nearly 14,000 living wage jobs, provided property tax reduction in each of the past three years for all homeowners, produced revenue that has reinvigorated Pennsylvania's horse racing industry, and provided a new stream of tax revenue to local governments that has funded scores of community projects.  A wealth of information about the Gaming Control Board and Pennsylvania's gaming industry can be found at www.pgcb.state.pa.us.  At this web site, 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