The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission has fined Grand Falls Casino, Rhythm City Casino, Riverside Casino and Elite Hospitality Sportsbook for failing to download an up-to-date self-exclusion list of gamblers in the state on time. The downloads occurred nearly a day late due to an administrative error.
Larchwood, Iowa’s Grand Falls Casino is the property in charge of the download process. General Manager of Grand Falls, Sharon Hasselhoff told the Racing and Gaming Commission, “Unfortunately, my team missed the download by less than one day.
"I had a new director come into her role and, when she went on vacation, she did not designate somebody to do that download.”
The other three venues were affected by this late process but, during the late download, no promotional materials were mailed to any players who had put themselves on self-exclusion lists from either the casinos or sportsbook.
The $5,000 fine levied is the lowest possible penalty for this particular issue. Iowa’s Lakeside casino was recently fined $40,000, however, for allowing two minors onto its gaming floor with their respective mothers in January. One instance resulted in a 14-year-old playing a slot machine.
Hasselhoff added, “Measures have been added so this doesn’t happen again, from additional folks in the security team being added to that download process, as well as the team, including myself on email notifications.
“So I’m aware of when those downloads are occurring, so we never get close to that seven-day deadline again.”
