Iowa Casinos Penalized for Self-Exclusion Violation

Two casinos in Iowa – The Casino Queen and Rythm City Casino – have faced a rather severe punishment by the state’s Racing and Gaming Commission. The regulation they have infringed concerns the policies of self-exclusion and self-limitation – due to these omissions, three casino that have either entered a casino or were given the promo material are now in a potentially hazardous situation, as they were all on a self-exclusion regime.

Both casinos were fined $13,000 in total. The Casino Queen, located in Marquette, made a legal transgression when they sent out a promotional e-mail to a person who was on a self-exclusion list and they will need to pay $5000 in fines. This is the first violation the casino has had in years. Dan Ostert, its manager, has said that they have already taken measures that should prevent similar offenses from happening: they will be cross-referencing the mailing lists with the exclusion list.

Rythm City Casino was double fined – $3000 and $5000 for two separate offenses. A blacklisted woman, who was a member of the casino, was using a fake ID to collect a $1500 jackpot in May last year. Casino manager, Mo Hyder, stated that the self-excluded player tricked them at first, but that the security team managed to detect the fraud. The other, larger fine, is due to the casino allowing another self-excluded player to under a different name and get a club card. Hyder comments: “Obviously there was a major breakdown, we do have all the polices and procedures and systems in place to address such issues. Unfortunately, due to human error we did have this issue of noncompliance.”