Northwest Iowa — Two northwest Iowa casinos are among five in Iowa to be fined by the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission for violations of regulations.
The Hard Rock Casino in Sioux City was fined 20-thousand dollars for allowing a minor onto the gambling floor — where he gambled and also consumed alcohol. Hard Rock General manager Doug Fisher spoke to the commission.
(As above) “Hard Rock Sioux City takes responsible gambling very seriously and deeply regret this incident,” Fisher says. “Our security team is well trained, and new security team members undergo a thorough three-week training program before being allowed on the gaming floor by themselves.”
Fisher says the security guard who let the minor in was fully trained but failed to follow through.
(As above) “Unfortunately when the minor approached the turnstile he made a motion to retrieve his wallet and the officer just waved him through without checking his ID,” Fisher says.
He says the officer was fired for not following their policies. He says the casino has increased and improved its training.
(As above) He says they are conducting quarterly retraining and all personnel must take an ID check and training every 90 days. Fisher says they have also installed a webcam that allows them to take a picture of a minor who is turned away and send that picture to all officers.
The Wild Rose Emmetsburg was fined 10-thousand dollars for allowing a person who had banned themselves from gambling to get into the casino. They also failed to download an update of the banned gamblers within the required seven days. Steve Cody is the casino’s general manager.
(As above) “There were some mistakes made, there were some procedures that weren’t followed and we apologized for them. I guess in this industry you’ve got a lot of people involved and there’s going to be a lot of mistakes that happen,” Cody says.
He says they have updated and improved their policies to prevent future problems.
(As above) “I think that we have some good procedures in place now — and hopefully I am not up here again for a very long time,” according to Cody.
The Wild Rose in Jefferson was fined five-thousand dollars for not downloading the banned list in the required time. The TVG Network, which conducts online wagering, and FanDuel, which conducts online games, were also each fined five-thousand dollars for not meeting the download deadline.
