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Racing and Gaming regulators preparing for possible sports gambling

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Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission administrator Brian Ohorilko says the organization is ready for whatever sports betting might bring to it. He says they’ve already been watching and researching the issue of sports gambling.

“We’ve been doing this actually for a number of years with fantasy sports — which had been discussed three to four years ago — and that has transitioned obviously with the latest Supreme Court ruling into just traditional sports wagering,” Ohorilkoh says. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling allows all states to permit sports betting. Ohorilko says the casino operators have also been researching sports betting.

“There’s definitely a lot of energy and excitement from the operators and that requires the commission to make sure that we are aware of all of the issues related to sports wagering,” Ohorilko says, “and the commission would be prepared if we the legislature were to ask the commission to assist with the regulation of that.”

He says they should be able to handle the additional duties of regulating sports betting.

“Our role would be quite extensive up front. Drafting rules, getting regs in place. But once that is in place, then I think the day-to-day regulation would certainly be manageable and there wouldn’t be a need for much additional staff,” according to Ohorilko. He says the will only play a supporting role after the decision is made.

“With sports wagering the commission has not position — but we will be ready to carry out whatever the legislature asks us to do,” he says. The casino industry which the IRGC regulates has been lobbying legislators to let state-licensed casinos run sports book operations . The Iowa Lottery’s board of directors is also having its staff research how a sports lottery might work here. Iowa Lottery officials say several of the lottery’s largest retailers have said that if sports betting becomes legal in Iowa, they want the option of offering it in their stores.

 

Burlington casino pays $20,000 state penalty after tax reporting error

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Brian Ohorilko.

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission approved a fine of $20,000 today for the Catfish Bend Casino in Burlington for an error in gambling tax reporting.

Racing and Gaming administrator Brian Ohorilko says the problem involved how free plays given to casino customers are taxed after the state law was changed two years ago.

“It exempted certain types of promotional play from state tax after a certain number of promotional play has been issued throughout the entire state of Iowa,” Ohorilko says. He says Catfish Bend was giving customers free plays after they paid a certain amount of cash and then they counted those free plays against the statewide tax limit.

“They were including that in the overall formula — it should not have been included in that formula — and so what it did was, it cause that threshold where taxes did not need to be paid for promotional pay to be hit a few weeks earlier than it should have,” according to Ohorilko. Ohorilko says they had to collect gambling taxes from casinos to make up for the mistake.

“It was approximately $250,000 in state gaming taxes that was collected over the course of two years,” Ohorilko says. Ohorilko says the taxing of free play in casinos is done by some states and some states do not tax it. Other states tax are like Iowa and only tax a portion of the free play. Ohorilko says free plays are legal and are one of the incentives the casinos use.

“Free play is very common throughout the industry. It’s issued to slot players, typically based on their play. It’s loaded onto their players club account and it’s typically played through slot machines,” Ohorilko says, “so, it’s very common and it’s a tool used in Iowa and other jurisdictions.”

The Catfish Bend fine also involved the use of credit cards to purchase credit.  The general manager of the casino says that mistakenly happened when customers purchased a casino package and paid for it with a credit card. The Racing and Gaming Commission took action on the issue at its monthly meeting at the Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Altoona.

 

Regulators approve fine for Harrah’s in Council Bluffs, parking ramp for Hard Rock Sioux City

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The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission unanimously approved a development agreement today between the Hard Rock Casino and Sioux City for an $11 million parking ramp that will add up to 580 spaces and result in part of the casino being remodeled. Commission member Jeff Lamberti says the ramp helps the casino and city.

“We see it as being really good for both, to be able to provide that kind of parking — because it does matter you know when you get bad weather, I mean we have bad weather half of the year. Quality parking matters and certainly for the Tyson Center…it’s just a win-win for both,” Lamberti says. The commission met at the Hard Rock

and they also approved a 20-thousand dollar penalty for Harvey’s of Council Bluffs after an underage girl got onto the gaming floor. The girl’s parents distracted the casino security guard while her grandparents quickly sneaked her in. Lamberti says this is something that’s been tried at other casinos too.

“This is becoming a little more common. You know I’ve been on the commission now almost seven years and when I was first on I don’t recall where we were seeing family members and other adults really trying to facilitate or assist someone in breaking the underage gaming rules,” according to Lamberti. Lamberti says they commission members want to see everyone involved face a penalty.

“We have spent some time talking about it. We strongly encourage local law enforcement to charge not only the minor — but the family members that assist,” Lamberti says. The girl’s family has been barred from entering the facility following the violation.

(By Woody Gottburg, KSCJ, Sioux City)

 

Hard Rock Casino in Sioux City pays penalty for underage gambling violation

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Slot machines at the Hard Rock Casino.

The Hard Rock Casino in Sioux City agreed to a penalty today from the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission for allowing minor to gamble.

Racing and Gaming administrator, Brian Ohorilko, says it happened in November. “She was on the floor for 56 minutes and had gambled at two different slot machines. The facility did notice her after she had been on the floor — approached her requested identification — and she refused and exited the casino quickly. It was determined later that she was indeed underage,” Ohorilko says. He says the situation met all the three criteria to be considered a violation of underage gambling.

He says the past precedent is for an administrative penalty of $20,000s and the Hard Rock agreed to pay that penalty. He says the penalty was based on the past history of the casino.

Ohroilko the casino has not had such an incident in the last 365 days, so it is considered a first offense. Ohorilko says state agents will determine if the minor is charged.

“There is a state law which would allow for a minor to be cited criminally,” Ohorilko says. “And so in a situation like this what typically happens — and what happened in this case — is it would be turned over to the Division of Criminal Investigation.” The IRGC took the action at their meeting in Council Bluffs.

Endowment fund sends gambling money to counties without casinos

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Wes Ehrecke

The president of the Iowa Gaming Association presented the annual report on the County Endowment Fund during the recent meeting of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.

The casinos each have a nonprofit partner which receives a percentage of the gambling profits each year to be spent in those counties. IGA president Wes Ehrecke says the County Endowment Fund was created 11 years ago for the 84 counties where there is not state-licensed casino.

“Out of our gaming tax revenue approximately $130,000 goes to every non-casino county. They each have their community foundation, a separate board of directors by which they can then set up and allocate those dollars,” according to Ehrecke. The money has a couple of requirements.

He says 25% of the money has to stay in a permanent endowment and the rest has to go out in grants. Ehrecke says the counties are able to use the money each year to leverage more funding. Those 84 county foundations helped fund several projects last year.

“Nine million dollars to 2,175 grants that you see listed in there for all kinds of innovative and worthwhile projects,” Ehrecke says. The counties with casinos sent approximately $53 million to their nonprofits. Ehrecke says some of the money in the casino counties also helps surrounding counties.

The non-casino counties originally received one-half of one percent of the game tax revenue each year — but that was increased to eight-tenths of one percent in 2006. For more information on the program, go to www.iowacommunityfoundations.org.

 

Casinos in Clinton and Jefferson pay penalties for violations

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State-licensed casinos in Clinton and Jefferson will pay $5,000 penalties for violating the rules for gamblers who banned themselves.

The Wild Rose in Clinton sent a mailing out in September to a person who had signed up for a self-ban in February of 2017. General manager Steve Nauman apologized to the Racing and Gaming Commission and says they take the self-ban issue seriously.

“We’ve spent countless hours to go through this program. We have made some changes, some safeguards,” Nauman says. “This happened when our marketing coordinator…failed to pull a new list,” Nauman says. He’s referring to the list of players who have banned themselves that is used as a reference. He is hoping the changes made in the system will prevent any future problems. “Now the marketing coordinator cannot send out emails until it is proven that she has pulled the new list and our marketing manager needs to sign off on it,” Nauman says.

The Wild Rose in Jefferson also had a violation as a person who had signed a self-ban at another casino was allowed to sign up for a player card at the Greene County facility. General manager Travis Dvorak apologized and said the casino has taken steps to correct the problem.  He says they did an audit and looked at procedures and have retrained all employees in the importance of reviewing identification.

Dvorak says they’ve taken other steps too, which includes the head of security becoming a trainer in I-D identification.  “We’ve also implemented a new audit procedure which we have communicated with our local rep. We will be doing a monthly audit of the state ban list to our internal control system….,” Dvorak says. “We’ve also taken addition steps for training.”

Brian Ohorilko

Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission administrator Brian Ohorilko says the rules governing the self-ban are being reviewed after several recent violations.  Ohorilko says the commission staff created a task force to evaluate all the procedures used to prevent people on the list from receiving marketing materials.

He says they also recently visited with the casino operators.  “To see what’s working well and maybe what’s not working so well,” Ohorilko explains. “At the end of the day the goal is to create a best practices document that can be shared with all of the licensees.”

The casinos face an administrative penalty from $5,000 to $20,000 for a violation of the self-ban rules. The severity of the penalty depends on the number of violations within a calendar year.

Gambling licenses renewed for state casinos

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Members of the Racing and Gaming Commission.

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission renewed the licenses for the 19 casinos it oversees during its meeting Tuesday in Altoona. The state issues one license to the gambling company to run the games, and one to a nonprofit organization to distribute the money they are required by the state to set aside.

Several members of the nonprofit spoke to the commissioners during the renewal process — including Dakin Schultz, president of Missouri River Historical Development, or MRHD. “Since August of 2014, Merd has received over 11 million, $500-thousand in funds to distribute as grants,” Schultz says. “We’ve granted over a million dollars in scholarships — with over half of that in the last two years alone.” He says he’s seen

Dakin Schultz

other benefits from moving the casino from a riverboat to the land.

“Our relationship with the Hard Rock Casino Hotel has been very positive….some of the things that you see when you are in Sioux City with the Hard Rock now is the astonishing change in the downtown,” according to Schultz. He says there used to be numerous vacant building in the area.

“Today with what’s going on at the Hard Rock, all those storefronts are filling up quick. It’s been a remarkable transition for what’s happening,” Schultz says.

The president of the Lyon County Riverboat Foundation, Jerry Keizer of Doon, talked about the funding they receive from the Grand Falls Casino. “Last October of 2017 we held our grant review banquet in the events center, where we distributed one million-235-thousand dollars to new projects in the surrounding communities,” Keizer says.

He says they also distribute funds from the casino golf course, with half going to scholarships. “These awards are based on applications. The remaining 50 percent of the funds are given to the Lyon County schools,” Keizer says. “There’s three schools in Lyon County that we fund. Since 2011, each school has received one-million-200-thousand dollars.”

 Steve Staebell is the president of the Southeast Iowa Regional Riverboat Commission which partners with the Catfish Bend Casino. “I’m happy to report that the relationship between the Catfish Bend Casino and the Southeast Iowa Regional Riverboat Commission or SIRRC — continues to thrive to the benefit of the Des Moines and Lee County communities,” Staebell says. He says the benefits are spread across the area.

He says the revenues are equally divided between Keokuk Area Convention and Tourism Bureau, the Fort Madison SIRRC and Grow Greater Burlington. “This year southeast Iowa is sharing the benefits of nearly $1.3 million made possible by these revenues,” according to Staebell. The Racing and Gaming Commission took the action to approve the new licenses at their meeting at the Prairie Meadows Casino in Altoona.

 

It’s National Problem Gambling Awareness Month

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Eric Preuss

Treatment experts are making an extra push this month to let you know there’s help if you think you have a gambling problem. Iowa Gambling Treatment Program manager, Eric Preuss, told state regulators today about National Problem Gambling Awareness Month.

He says groups from across America hold conferences, air public service announcements and host screening days among many other activities to bring awareness to problem gambling. He told the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission that it is the 14th annual National Problem Gambling Awareness Month.

“Calls to problem gambling helplines jump by an average of 30 percent during the month of March — proving that Problem Gambling Awareness Month and related activities make a measurable and meaningful impact — not only here in Iowa, but also nationwide,” Preuss says. Preuss says one of the keys is educating people on the things that indicate there might be a problem.

“Signs of problem gambling include increasing preoccupation with gambling, a need to bet more and more frequently, restlessness or irritability when attempting to stop,” Preuss says, “chasing one’s loses, the lost of control manifesting by the continuation of gambling behavior in spite of the mounting serious and negative consequences.” Preuss says there is a wide variety of consequences from those who can’t stop gambling.

“In extreme cases, problem gambling can result in financial ruin, legal problems, loss of career and family, and in some cases — even suicide,” according to Preuss. He says for the small percentage of those who have a gambling problem, there is hope.

“The good news in all of this is that we have the Iowa Gambling Treatment Program. Treatment works and recovery is possible,” Preuss says. Studies have shown those who call for help see results.

“Ninety-two percent reported fewer signs of problem gambling at discharge than on admission. And among those who entered treatment having gambled 30 days prior to treatment — the mean number of days gambled decreased from about eight days — to less than one day at discharge,” Preuss says. Preuss says anyone who feels they may be a problem gambler is urged to call 1-800-BETTS-OFF to get help.

 

State Regulators approve millions in renovations for Prairie Meadows Casino

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Gary Palmer

The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission has approved more than eight million dollars in renovations for two projects at the Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Altoona.

Prairie Meadows CEO, Gary Palmer, says $6 million  of the renovations are for the convention center area adjacent to the casino. “It’s going to be all new carpet, lighting, wallpaper, it will have a whole new look to it when we are done with it,” Palmer says. “We opened this in 2006, so it’s time to remodel before it looks like it needs remodeled.”

He says the new lighting system will allow them to specialize the color of the rooms. “We have so many different people who want different things for conventions, weddings….this new lighting system we are putting in, if we are having a wedding or anniversary and yellow are their colors are say yellow — we can make that whole room yellow for you — it will accent because of our lighting,” Palmer says. He says they are doing the remodeling in stages.

Palmer says they are working on the board room and break out rooms and will work until June when they have a lot of bookings. He says they should be able to finish the rest of the renovations there by August. They also plan to spend $2.7 million to renovate the clubhouse on the fourth floor that is used for racing.

“We are going to completely redo it in colors, carpet, wall coverings, monitors — just completely redo the clubhouse on the east and west side,” Palmer says. “We are going to do the east side now before racing season.” Horse racing starts in April and they will do the renovations the west side of the clubhouse after the season is over.

The Racing and Gaming Commission approved the project at their meeting last week at Prairie Meadows.

Casinos in Marquette, Davenport fined for violations of self gambling ban

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The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission handed out fines to two casinos Thursday for three violations involving people who had banned themselves from gambling.

The Casino Queen in Marquette was issued a $5,000 fine for sending out a mailing to a person on the banned list.

General Manager Dan Ostert spoke to the commissioners about the violation, which was the casino’s first in the last year. He says they have implemented procedures to try and keep it from happening in the future, including having a second verification of the person by a marketing employee. Ostert says they require the name to be checked against the banned list when the file is pulled and when it is sent out.

Mo Hyder

The Rhythm City Casino in Davenport was fined $3,000 after a woman who was banned used someone else’s ID to collect a $1,500 jackpot in May.

General Manager Mo Hyder  says the person made a deliberate attempt to defraud them, but in the end the security team identified the person and took proper action. The casino paid the state $1,500 to offset the jackpot that was paid out.

The casino had a previous violation in the last year, but Commissioner Jeff Lamberti said the violation should be treated as a first violation since the person actively sought to get around the ban. Hyder says it is an issue they have to be aware of.

“People are going to try and do these kind of things and we just have to be careful and be a little more observant,” Hyder says. The Rhythm City was also fined $5,000 after a person registered for the Player’s Club and received a card in July. The casino later discovered the person was on the banned list.

“Obviously there was a major breakdown, we do have all the polices and procedures and systems in place to address such issues. Unfortunately, due to human error we did have this issue of noncompliance,” Hyder says. He says they have since gone through the entire process of retraining everyone and stressing they should be careful when they are setting up new accounts.

The rules involving self ban violations changed after a law change that allows someone to remove their name from the list if they have been on it for five years. Racing and Gaming administrator, Brian Ohorilko, says the one change involves those who try to actively get around the self ban.

“In those instances…they will still be violations, but they will be handled at the gaming board level,” according to Ohorilko. The maximum fines for those violations will be $1,000. Ohorilko says

“In instances where the casino industry initiates the contact, in those instances the fine structure has escalated. “And those violations will be referred to the commission, and those fines will start at $5,000,” Ohorilko explains. Ohorilko says the new system went into effect in July.