Still, this summer DGE issued more than a dozen fines of $10,000 or more to various casinos and sportsbooks, a total of more than $320,000 as the agency closed the books on issues that date back as long ago as 2021.
The largest fine – $80,000 – was paid by FOXBet. That New Jersey sportsbook was found to have accepted wagers on men’s college basketball games in 2021 and 2022 involving New Jersey universities Rutgers, Monmouth, Fairleigh Dickinson, and Seton Hall.
New Jersey allows wagers on most college sporting events, with the exception being games involving New Jersey schools and/or athletic contests that take place in the state. A 2021 statewide referendum to eliminate this quirk was rejected by voters, although a second attempt by advocates is expected to land on the ballot by 2025.
The Australia-based PointsBet sportsbook operator was fined $25,000 by DGE, with one of the infractions being taking a bet on St. Peter’s, another New Jersey university.
The other two violations were unique among the penalties imposed by DGE this summer.
One was for allowing wagers on an eSports event called League of Legends World Championships even though one of the competitors was under the age of 21.
The other violation was for taking bets on five different English Championship League soccer matches even after the games had been played, and the outcome was already known.
Multiple Atlantic City Casinos Accepted Bets from Ineligible Customers
The other dozen fines were for similar misbehavior by casinos in Atlantic City, the only location in the state where such operations are legal.
In many cases, the announcement of the fines was for “monies confiscated from individuals who failed to produce adequate identification, abandoned certain assets, or were otherwise prohibited from engaging in gaming activity.”
In several other cases, casino operators accepted bets from “self-excluded” gamblers who should have been flagged by casino personnel beforehand.
The biggest offender on those two fronts was Caesars, which accepted three separate five-figure violations totaling $86,000. One of those fines, for $35,000, specifically listed allowing an t“underage patron” o gamble at their casino.
Tropicana also was fined three times for a total of $40,000, while Golden Nugget had a single violation for $19,000.
Bally’s took a fine of $18,000, and Hard Rock and Ocean casinos each took on $12,000 penalties. That left Borgata, Resorts, and Harrah’s as the city’s casino properties that did not have $10,000 or more fines imposed on them by DGE this summer.
FanDuel, the New Jersey mobile sportsbook operator, accepted a $19,000 fine in the “failed to produce proper identification” category. This fine was notable because in other cases anywhere from one person to a dozen persons was listed as part of the violation, but FanDuel’s transgression took place among 81 patrons.
Other Gambling Operator Violations in New Jersey in 2023
The scope of New Jersey regulator activity this summer is in contrast to the first five months of 2023, when a total of only five fines of $10,000 or more were imposed.
One was for $44,000 to Borgata – the perennial Atlantic City casino industry market leader – for allowing a dozen self-excluded patrons to gamble.
The Caesars casino accepted the first of four five-figure penalties back in April, that one to the tune of $31,000.
PokerStars lost $21,000 for allowing out-of-state gamblers to risk money on their New Jersey mobile site. Modern geolocation technology allows for pinpoint tracking of where gamblers are when they place bets, and allowing out-of-state bettors can bring state regulators under scrutiny of federal regulators, as gambling across state lines remains prohibited in the U.S.
SG Gaming, meanwhile, was hit with a fine of $100,000 for allowing a total of 39 self-excluded patrons to gamble on their New Jersey online casino gaming site.
Finally, Caesars Entertainment – the parent company that operates the Caesars, Tropicana, and Harrah’s casinos in Atlantic City that each are “middle of the pack” among nine properties in terms of annual casino revenue in the city – accepted a $44,000 fine in April in part for employing two bartenders and a security guard in spite of “revoked, suspended, or inactive casino employee registrations.”
Additionally, 14 other individuals were found to have gained work at the Caesars properties as “Casino Hotel and Beverage employees” without those employees having the proper credentials. Caesars also was fined twice in 2022, for a total of $96,000, for similar violations.
The letter from DGE Director David Rebuck to Caesars Entertainment referenced “ongoing and pervasive” such violations, which run afoul of the state’s Casino Control Act.
