PA Gaming Control Board Removes Gambling Privileges and also fines parties for online sports wagering violation

Placement on an Involuntary Exclusion List prohibits individuals from either gaming in a casino in Pennsylvania, via an online betting site regulated by the Board, or a Video Gaming Terminal (“VGT”) location. With these actions, 1,363 individuals are now on the Board’s various Involuntary Exclusion Lists.

The actions by the Board today include placement on the Casino Involuntary Exclusion List of two individuals who left a minor or minors unattended while gambling in a Pennsylvania casino:

A male patron who left two children, ages 8 and 13, in a vehicle in the parking lot of Valley Forge Resort Casino for 52 minutes while he gambled;

A female patron who left an 8-year-old unattended in a hotel room at Live! Casino and Hotel Philadelphia for over an hour while she gambled on slot machines; and,

In addition to the new placements on the Casino Involuntary Exclusion List involving unattended minors, the Board also denied a request for removal from the list:

A female patron who, in 2022, left three minors, ages 10, 14 and 15, unattended in a vehicle in the parking garage of Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course for 1 hour and 41 minutes while she gambled at slot machines.

Actions such as these to deny statewide gambling privileges serve as a reminder that adults are prohibited from leaving minors unattended in the parking lot or garage, a hotel, or other venues at a casino since it creates a potentially unsafe and dangerous environment for the children. To compliment the efforts by casinos to mitigate this issue, the Board created an awareness campaign, “Don’t Gamble with Kids”.

The Board also added an additional eight individuals to the Involuntary Casino Exclusion List whose presence in a casino would be inimical to the interest of the Commonwealth due to various crimes or actions. Additionally, nine others were placed on the Board’s Involuntary Interactive Gaming list for fraudulent actions.

Also approved by the Board at today’s meeting was a consent agreement presented by its Office of Enforcement Counsel (“OEC”) resulting in a fine of $10,000 jointly against Washington Trotting Association LLC, operator of Hollywood Casino at The Meadows and Sports Information Services Limited, a Sports Wagering Operator doing business in Pennsylvania as Kambi. The fine was the result of permitting an individual to post 35 past-posted sports wagers at kiosks in the casino.

Copies of the approved Consent Agreement containing additional details is available upon request through the Board’s Office of Communications.

The Gaming Control Board is scheduled to meet next at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 in the Board’s Public Hearing Room located on the second floor of the Strawberry Square Complex in Harrisburg. More information, including the agenda, will be posted on the Board’s website prior to the meeting.