Sands Casino Fined for Allowing Underage Gamblers
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board issues $68,000 fine to Bethlehem casino for allowing 6 people under age 21 onto the gaming floor. In 5 cases, they also placed bets.
The Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem was fined $68,000 on Wednesday by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board for allowing underage people access to the gaming floor, according to a gaming board news release.
In six separate incidents between August and November, people under the age of 21 were allowed to get onto the casino gaming floor. In all but one case, they also gambled, the board reported.
The incidents:
- A 20-year-old man gained access using another person’s ID, gambled at both slot machines and table games, and consumed alcohol.
- An off-duty Sands Casino Security Officer escorted an underage woman onto the gaming floor who utilized a fake ID. While the 19-year-old did not gamble, she did consume alcoholic beverages while in the facility. The security officer was later terminated.
- A 20-year-old man gained access without having his ID checked, then gambled on slot machines and consumed alcohol.
- A 20-year-old man gained access to the casino floor without having his ID properly checked and gambled at slot machines.
- A 20-year-old man gained access using another person’s ID, gambled at both slot machines and table games, and consumed alcohol.
- A 20-year-old man gained access using another person’s ID, gambled at table games, and consumed alcohol.
This was the third time Sands Bethworks Gaming was fined by the board for underage violations since its last license renewal. Previously the board had fined Sands $48,000 in 2010 for six underage gaming violations and again in 2012 for four underage gaming violations also resulting in a fine of $48,000.
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 slot machines or table games, nor enter and remain in any area of a licensed facility where slot machines are operated or the play of table games is conducted.
In a separate matter, the board also today approved a consent agreement that resulted in a $7,500 fine against the Sands for conducting business with a gaming service provider who appeared on the board’s prohibited vendor list.
GREG L
7:31 am on Thursday, March 14, 2013
Not defending the Sands here, but this is something difficult to police. I often think back to the arguments for and against the Sands when it was proposed originally. It seems to me that the only thing the Sands has done is made money for its shareholders while attracting all sorts of bad actors. It seems like every other week I'm reading about someone who stole something, was publicly drunk and etc. I'm not a gambler, but I'd be highly uncomfortable even going in the place as its a mini surveillance state with cameras and security watching and recording your every move. I think the folks who were against this were right.