Two Iowa casinos were fined for gambling violations Thursday by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.
Racing and Gaming Administrator, Brian Ohorilko, says the Isle in Waterloo had an underage violation. “There was an incident in February where a minor approached the security podium — was permitted to enter unchallenged — was on the floor for over 30 minutes and gambled at a number of machines,” Ohorilko explains.
He says the minor was eventually discovered and the case was referred to regulators. “The commission reviewed the matter and Isle Waterloo stipulated to the facts and agreed to a penalty in the amount of $20,000,” Ohorilko says.
The Wild Rose Casino in Clinton had a violation involving a self-banned gambler. “When the facility screened their internal list with the state database — they determined there was a least one name that had not been uploaded to their internal list,” according to Ohorilko. “That individual was able to create a players club card even though they were on the state self-exclusion list.”
Ohorilko says the casino agreed to a $5,000 penalty. “It was noted that Wild Rose discovered the incident themselves — they reported it — and it was the first incident of this nature within the past year,” Ohorilko says. He says the lack of previous violations led to the lowest penalty available for the violation.
The Racing and Gaming Commission took the action at their meeting Thursday in Riverside.