The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission hit the Riverside Casino with a $20,000 fine this week for allowing an underage person to get onto the gambling floor. It was the second recent violation for the facility.

General manager Dan Franz spoke to the commission. “We certainly regret that this happened, we take it very seriously, we take our responsibility to maintain the integerity of the gaming floor very seriously. And quite frankly to be up here again the second time within a year regarding a violation, we’re embarrassed by that, and don’t feel good about it at all,” Franz said.

Franz says this case was a simple mistake as the minor had a paper I-D and it couldn’t be scanned by the security officer. Franz says the man looked at the I-D and immediately started looking at the height and weight listed and missed the date of the person’s birth. “There’s really no other excuse for it, other than he made a mistake,” Franz said.

Riverside also paid a $20,000r fine for the first instance, and would have to pay $30,000 if there is another problem before April.

The Racing and Gaming Commission also fined Harrahs Casino and the Horshoe Casino, both in Council Bluffs, $3,000 each for allowing someone who had banned themself from gambling to enter the casinos. Commission administrator Jack Ketterer says the casinos have to be vigilant in preventing people who “self exclude” themselves from gambling.

“People do that all the time, and there’s not any way for the licensees to catch all these people, but what we do want them to do is when they have a taxable jackpot….that they compare that person’s name with the name on the self exclusion list and their Social Security number,” Ketterer said. He says these two casinos did not catch the self exclusions and allowed the people to collect jackpots.

Any jackpot over $1,200 requires identification before it can be paid out.

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission is just about three weeks away from releasing its report on internet poker. Division administrator, Jack Ketterer, says the report will give information, but not advice.

Ketterer says the legislature asked them to look at internet gambling in the state and a regulatory framework for it. He says lawmakers did not ask for a recommendation on moving ahead with internet gambling. Ketterer says they want to provide the information to let the legislature make its own decision on the issue.

Ketterer says their role is to gather information and collect facts so the legislature is up to speed when bills are introduced so “they can make an informed decision on what’s the best public policy for Iowa.” Ketterer says the issue of internet gambling is one that’s hot nationwide.

“It’s somewhat fascinating in that you see something on it about every day, it changes,” Ketterer says. He laughed and said there may be changes to the report. Ketterer says nailing down one key factor on the impact of internet gambling has not been easy.

He says one of the things the legislature and everyone else wants to know is how many people would do it and how much money it would bring in. Ketterer says the answer to that is “pretty speculative.” He says they are getting information from the sources they feel are the best informed and they will reveal those in the report.

Ketterer says they did see a survey of some of the people who play poker in state-licensed casinos and about half of them said they would play on-line if it was available, and half said they wouldn’t. The report will be released to the legislature on December first.