The Lakeside Casino, based in Osceola, Iowa, has been given a penalty worth $40,000 for allowing two minors in separate incidents to access the gambling floor, issued by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.
Both incidents occurred in January of this year, one involving a 12-year-old who got onto the floor with his mother, while the other involved a 14-year-old who got onto the casino floor with her mother and played a slot machine.
Lakeside General Manager David Monroe told the Commission: “The incidents that occurred in January are the result of a couple of employees failing to follow the training and guidelines they had committed to.
"In both instances, the minors would not have gained access if the employees and just to even a marginal job.”
Monroe claimes extra measures have now been taken to prevent similar incidents from happening again, such as retraining employees, including security officers on turnstile responsibilities with a review of the entry area and a new turnstile installed at the entrance to the gambling floor.
Commission member Allen Ostergren said: “But I can tell you and I want to tell other licensees, had there not been this level of remedial measures taken, I would have, I would have had a very hard time agreeing to just this kind of financial penalty, it would have been a lot more or something that would have hurt a lot more.”
Instead of any potential license suspensions, the Commission unanimously approved the $40,000 penalty.
On Thursday, it was announced that the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) has imposed $45,000 worth of fines, with four adults being placed on its involuntary exclusion list.
