The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board yesterday approved a motion agreement presented by the Board's Executive Counseling Office (OEC) regarding the breach at a Video Game Terminal (VGT) facility located at a qualified truck stop in Commonwealth.
The approved consent agreement was the result of negotiations between OEC and Pilot Travel Center, LLC that resulted in a $45,000 fine for allowing underage gambling cases and failing to work board-qualified employees while VGT was able to play at Smithton locations.
A copy of the approved consent agreement will be provided upon request through the board's communications office.
The Commission has also taken action against the OEC's petition to ban four adults from all casinos in the Commonwealth for neglecting a total of nine minors to participate in gaming activities:
A female sponsor was placed on an involuntary exclusion list after leaving three children, ages 10, 14 and 15, in a vehicle running for two hours and two minutes in the parking lot of a Hollywood casino on Penn National Racecourse
One female sponsor was placed on an involuntary exclusion list after neglecting minors at another casino on two occasions:
The investigation also found that a 10-year-old child who was left for 22 minutes to receive a promotional gift in a vehicle near the Rivers Casino Philadelphia parking lot was struck by another vehicle and left the vehicle and entered the casino;
Live!2 children aged 11 and 12 left in a vehicle to receive promotional gifts for 25 minutes in a parking lot at a Philadelphia casino;
A male sponsor was placed on an involuntary exclusion list after leaving two children, ages 3 and 7, in a running vehicle for 24 minutes while gambling in a sportsbook. The investigation also noted that a 7-year-old was found leaving the vehicle and wandering in the garage while a 3-year-old was left alone in the vehicle
A male patron was placed on an involuntary exclusion list after leaving a 5-year-old child in the parking lot of the Windcrick Bethlehem casino for 27 minutes in a vehicle while entering the casino. The survey also pointed out that the child was left in a vehicle that was not driving when the temperature was 22 degrees outside.
The board's actions serve as a reminder that adults are prohibited from leaving minors in parking lots, garages, hotels, or other places in casinos because they create potentially unsafe and dangerous conditions for children. Neglecting minors in Pennsylvania casinos is not only excluded from all Pennsylvania casinos, but also subject to criminal punishment for perpetrators.
To praise the casino's efforts to alleviate the problem, the board of directors created a "Don't gamble with children" awareness campaign. While the board tracked 233 cases of neglect of minors in the first eight months of 2022, that number was reduced to 151 in the first eight months of 2023.
The next board meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 18, 2023, in the board's public hearing room located on the second floor of the Strawberry Square Complex in Harrisburg.