Deadwood casinos must add gambling integrity plans

The new safeguards are part of a package of regulations that the Legislature’s Rules Review Committee blessed with final approval Tuesday.

One of the commission’s proposed rules, regarding how minors should be monitored in gambling areas, was withdrawn after talks with Deadwood casino personnel.

Senator Jean Hunhoff quizzed the commission’s attorney, Doug Abraham, about a new regulation that requires a casino to have a plan for a person who formally asks to be excluded from betting.

“Why is this rule in there? Has something happened? What led to that?” the Yankton Republican asked.

Replied Abraham, “A lot of other areas have similar situations. I’m not aware of an area in Deadwood that had this.”

He called on the commission’s deputy executive secretary, Mark Heltzel, who said it’s a national practice.

“We just followed suit and tried to offer that to our customers. We never had a specific incident where we felt we needed to raise that concern,” Heltzel said.

The regulation requires that each casino’s plan receive approval from the commission’s executive secretary, Susan Christian, and that each casino report monthly to her office those who have voluntarily excluded themselves.

A handful of Deadwood casinos have been hit with violations since sports wagering began last fall. The new “patron protection” regulations outline requirements each casino must follow, including mechanisms that allow patrons to detect unauthorized use of their accounts and methods of resolving disputes between patrons and casinos.

The regulations also require casinos to “promptly notify” the commission regarding anyone caught or reasonably suspected of misrepresenting their identity or using false identity in an attempt to open or access a patron account, as well as any criminal or disciplinary proceedings commenced against the casino in connection with sports wagering operations.