Catfish Bend Casino in Burlington, Horseshoe Casino in Council Bluffs, Prairie Meadows in Altoona and Diamond Jo Worth Casino in Northwood, have been fined a combined $130,000 dollars by the Iowa Racing and Gambling Commission for gambling violations involving minors.
The properties were found to have failed to verify patrons were aged over 18 to access their gambling floors.
Racing and Gambling administrator, Brian Ohorilko, said the Catfish Bend Casino in Burlington allowed an underage male to enter the casino floor “unchallenged”. He was on the floor for 47 minutes and pulled a ticket out of a machine. “Based on a preponderance of the evidence, we felt the individual did gamble,” Ohorilko said.
Ohorilko said the casino agreed to a $30,000 fine. He said: “The normal fine for this is 20 (thousand dollars), but there were the aggravating circumstances of a lack of surveillance coverage, and the age of the minor elevated that fine.”
The Horseshoe Casino, a Caesars Entertainment-operated property in Council Bluffs, received two fines totaling $60,000. The first incident involved an underage female in January who entered the gambling floor with an adult: “gambled at a number of slot machines and was on the gambling floor for over 30 minutes”, according to Ohorilko.
Two months later, a 17-year-old girl spent five hours on the gambling floor and gambled during that time.
The Prairie Meadows Casino, Racetrack & Hotel in Altoona, owned by Polk County and operated by a non-profit, 13-member board of directors, must pay a $20,000-fine for allowing an underage gambler to enter with two adults.
IRGC said the minor “was not challenged at the turnstile, had gambled, and was on the floor for approximately 60 minutes”. It said the individual was identified by another security officer who was conducting routine business.
The final venue fined is Diamond Jo Worth Casino in Northwood. The casino was fined $20,000 for allowing a minor to gamble for two hours. He was never challenged by casino personnel but was finally identified by casino staff before being asked to leave.
Ohorilko pointed out that the violations were the first for all four properties in the past nine months. He didn’t specify if the fines had already been paid, or if the casinos are challenging them.
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