Pennsylvania Fines MGM Resorts $50,250 for a Late Licensing Filing and CountR $50,000 Over an Unapproved Change of Control

Pennsylvania's gaming regulator approved two consent agreements over paperwork failures, one against a casino group that was the subject of a takeover bid until yesterday. It also added ten people to its exclusion lists, including a gambler who left a five-year-old alone in a casino garage.

• The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) fined MGM Resorts International $50,250 on 23 September "for its failure to timely file a Principal Licensing application"
• German supplier CountR GmbH will pay $50,000 over "an unapproved change of control of its license and failure to pay required licensing fees"
• Both penalties were consent agreements presented by the Board's Office of Enforcement Counsel; the Board has not published further detail, which it says is available on request
• The Board placed ten people on its involuntary exclusion lists, bringing the total to 1,507, including one adult who left a five-year-old unattended for 36 minutes in the parking garage at Harrah's Philadelphia
• The fine lands the day MGM said Barry Diller's People Inc. had withdrawn its bid for the company

Two Consent Agreements, Few Details

The PGCB approved the agreements at its monthly public meeting on 23 September. MGM Resorts International, which owns half of BetMGM, was fined $50,250 "for its failure to timely file a Principal Licensing application", according to the Board's release. Principal licences cover the people and companies that control a licensee.

CountR GmbH, a German supplier, agreed to pay $50,000 over "an unapproved change of control of its license and failure to pay required licensing fees". Under the consent agreement, the Board said, the company "will pay the Board $50,000 to settle its unpaid license". The release does not say when the change of control happened, how late MGM's application was, or how the amounts were calculated; the Board said copies of the agreements are available on request.

The Board also placed ten people on its involuntary exclusion lists, which now hold 1,507 names. One was an adult excluded "for leaving a 5-year-old unattended in the parking garage at Harrah's Philadelphia Casino for 36 minutes while he gambled at slot machines", a case the Board highlighted alongside its "Don't Gamble with Kids" campaign. Its next meeting is on 14 October.

Small Fines That Still Say Something About Timing

Neither penalty is large, and both concern filings rather than players. But Pennsylvania's principal licensing regime exists so that the regulator knows who controls its licensees, which is precisely the question a change of ownership raises. CountR's case is a straightforward example: control changed before the regulator approved it. MGM's lands in a week when its ownership was in the news for other reasons, as People Inc. withdrew its $48.30-a-share proposal to take it private. Any buyer of a company licensed in Pennsylvania would face the same process.

The case of the child left in a casino garage is a reminder that the PGCB's exclusion list is used for conduct as well as cheating, and that the regulator still sees it often enough to run a campaign about it.