Caesars Entertainment — which owns the Caesars, Harrah’s, and Tropicana casinos in Atlantic City — has been hit with an unusually large $50,000 fine by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
The numerous violations of the state’s Casino Control Act stem from “employing, for a number of years, approximately 49 individuals in numerous positions throughout various departments — including in the areas of purchasing, information technology, marketing, human resources, and credit — without such employees holding the requisite casino employee registrations.”
Caesars also was found to have failed to “maintain complete, accurate, and current records for each of its employees, including license and registration numbers.”
Atlantic City operators have faced stringent state regulations since Resorts became the municipality’s first casino back in 1978, so it’s somewhat surprising that a company as large and seasoned as Caesars could have been so lax. In a letter sent by DGE to Caesars dated July 7, DGE director David Rebuck noted that on May 3, 2021, Caesars self-reported that it had employed seven information technology (IT) specialists who had inactive casino employee registrations. Caesars advised that it would look for any other inactive registrations.
By last November, more than 40 additional violations had been reported by Caesars — with some of the employees never having registered at all. DGE set a January deadline for employee registrations, and at that time it learned that 37 unregistered employees were still with the company. Those employees all were registered as of Feb. 4, according to DGE.
Other Caesars violations have arisen
Caesars fared better in an earlier case. On Feb. 25, 2021, Caesars self-reported that approximately 60 casino and hotel alcoholic beverage employees were working without being properly registered. Those issues were fixed on March 31, 2021, and DGE elected to take “no regulatory action.”
In each case, Caesars “did not submit monthly employment reports, where in some cases certain individuals were omitted from the monthly reports and in other cases the appropriate credential data was not included.”
Rebuck concluded, “Any subsequent violations … by Caesars may result in further regulatory action by the Division as appropriate under the circumstances.”
In a separate filing this month, DGE ordered the Caesars casino to forfeit $22,666.30 for “gaming winnings…. which Caesars confiscated from 44 individuals who failed to produce adequate identification, abandoned certain assets, or were otherwise prohibited from engaging in gaming activity.”
Counsel for Caesars did not object to the forfeiture of winnings from all but two of the individuals.
Bally’s, meanwhile, was ordered to forfeit $6,714.30 for gaming winnings from seven patrons who also did not produce adequate ID. Borgata ran into the same issue with 13 customers, and was ordered to forfeit $1,174.92.
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