DGE Fines Caesars For Allowing Banned Gamblers To Bet Online
The Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) has imposed a $15,000 fine on Caesars Entertainment Corp’s online gambling firm Caesars Interactive Entertainment. The DGE reported that CIE had allowed five banned gamblers to access their online gambling website.
These five gamblers had earlier made the personal choice of banning themselves from gambling as they have a gambling addiction.
As per the law in New Jersey, players who have an addiction to gambling can put themselves on a special list that automatically prevents them from gaining access to casinos.
Caesars had allowed these fiver banned gamblers to slip through their security network and allowed them to open new online betting accounts. These gamblers were then able to gain full access to Caesar’s list of online casino games and continued to gamble till they were found out. Although these players voluntarily signed up for a Caesars online gambling account, the DGE will still hold Caesars responsible as based on the law, it’s the company’s responsibility to screen all players and drop those who are banned from gambling.
The DGE confirmed that Caesars had committed another violation when it accidentally sent promotion material to 231 gamblers who were also a part of the self-excluded gamblers list. The fact that Caesars is sending out marketing material to bring in more customers does not come as a surprise considering the condition of the online gambling market in New Jersey.
By sending emails to gamblers who have voluntarily decided to opt out of the gambling circuit was something the DGE was unable to excuse and hence imposed the $15,000 fine. In a statement, Seth Palansky, Caesars Interactive spokesman said
We self-reported this error to the DGE after we were notified by our third-party provider a lapse in procedure occurred. We regret the error, and apologize to those affected by it. We accept the punishment and will work more diligently to avoid a repeat mistake.
This is not the first time that Caesars Interactive is being fined by the DGE. The company was hit with a $10,000 fine in 2014 when it once again accidentally emailed over 250 gamblers who were on the self-excluded gamblers list. Caesars Interactive was also fined $3,000 for failing to comply with the law which required “1-800-GAMBLER FREE” to be clearly printed on all its material. This gambling hotline number is supposed to be place all billboards that advertise online gambling but Caesars once again failed to comply with the law.
