The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) imposed a $260,905 fine to BetMGM for allowing self-excluded online casino individuals to wager. It’s the fourth-highest fine the PGCB has ever issued.
The PGCB determined that BetMGM Casino allowed 148 accounts, who were on the iGaming self-exclusion list, to wager on the platform. Those incidents yielded $252,035.55 of deposits and $82,460.30 in withdraws, which comes out to a difference of $169,575.25.
The operator then self-reported three more separate incidents, one in each of 2021, 2022 and 2023. It involved four more self-excluded individuals who gained access to the platform.
In total, $436,381.00 was deposited and $175,476.89 was withdrawn, a difference of $260,904.11. That is the exact figure BetMGM owes to the PGCB.
In addition, BetMGM agreed to make a $20,000 donation to the Pennsylvania Council on Problem Gambling.
Sarah Brennan, BetMGM Senior Director of Compliance, told the PGCB during a meeting on Wednesday:
“We’ve worked closely through these issues with the Board, first by self-reporting when they were identified and carefully through the remediation measures that were implemented as a result.
“BetMGM is committed to the protection of patrons in the Commonwealth, and regrets and apologizes that these four issues have occurred.”
Corrective actions BetMGM must implement
In a copy of the consent agreement PlayPennsylvania obtained, the PGCB and BetMGM agreed on new steps to be implement to prevent more cases.
According to the consent agreement, BetMGM must do the following to avoid the first incident:
“To prevent future similar situations from occurring, prior to loading updates from PGCB’s Self-Exclusion List, BetMGM performs manual scans of the self-exclusion list data to ensure the data is complete and properly formatted.”
The next three incidents related to human error and a system anomaly. The consent agreement stated that employees have been retrained and that all systems have tested with no issues. BetMGM must also conduct quarterly audits of the iGaming self-exclusion list.
The operator has not had a similar incident since July 2023.
Other big fines the PGCB imposed
A near $261,000 fine is one of the largest the PGCB has ever issued. The PGCB provided PlayPennsylvania with the top three monetary violations:
- December 2017: Downs Racing (Mohegan PA) $550,000 for failure to follow internal controls
- December 2017: Downs Racing (Mohegan PA) $450,000 for doing business with unlicensed companies and employees
- June 2018: AGS, LLC (American Gaming Systems) $351,271 for its failure to disclose their Intellectual Property Purchase Agreement with In Bet Gaming, LLC.
Because of two separate incidents, Mohegan Pennsylvania was fined $1 million in the same meeting. The fact that BetMGM incurred a six-figure fine symbolizes the seriousness of of the PGCB’s self-exclusion program.