By
Jerry Smith
Staff Writer Updated: 08/10/2024
Jerry’s greatest advantage is his extensive experience on the casino floor. His time as a casino manager taught him everything about what makes a player tick. Besides being a skilled poker player, he has deep knowledge of all live table games and gambling regulations in the US.
Penn Entertainment
It has been revealed that Penn Entertainment has come under fire from Nevada gaming regulators over alleged compliance issues at its casinos. The problems came to light while regulators were performing routine checks relating to the public offerings from Penn. The gaming giant is based in Nevada and has more than 40 casinos across the nation.
Among the casinos operated by Penn Entertainment are M Resort Spa Casino in Henderson and Cactus Pete’s Resort Casino in Jackpot.
Regulators have raised concerns over a number of compliance issues at the casino properties, with incidents from as far back as 2020 being highlighted. According to reports, these issues had been raised in the past by regulators, but it appears that Penn has failed to resolve the problems.
The violations that were highlighted by gaming regulators included minors accessing the casino facilities, problems with self-excluded gamblers using the facilities, and delays in implementing policy updates.
According to the Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer of Penn, Chris Soriano, the delays in implementing improved policies were due to processes taking far longer than expected.
He said that a comprehensive review had to be carried out and that this needed to include their interactive business. He added that the process was designed to ensure best practices were integrated into the new policies, but that it had taken longer than anticipated.
Soriano said,
It took us a little longer than we would have liked, but we wanted a set of really robust policies and that’s where we landed.
It was further reported that Commissioner Rosa Solis-Rainey then queried what measures had been put into place in the interim to help improve standards and controls. However, she was not satisfied with the response from Penn and said that proper communication and follow-up processes with casino managers were crucial to ensure regulations were being followed.
Regulators are said to have discussed the recurring nature of the violations by Penn Entertainment. It was revealed that they also talked about the current measures that were in place, which regulators said were ineffective in terms of preventing these violations from occurring.
Solis-Rainey said that specific measures needed to be taken at each property to ensure compliance with regulations, adding that simply discussing them with management was not adequate. She also spoke about concerns relating to training.
Soriano agreed with the need to improve staff training, adding that this needed to be improved in order to ensure controls to aid regulatory compliance were effectively implemented. He said that Penn was committed to resolving the issues that had been raised by regulators and that a meeting was planned in September to discuss the company’s progress.
It is claimed that a number of regulators who were involved in the meeting about Penn were frustrated over the failure of the company to address repeated regulatory breaches. One commissioner, Brian Krolicki, said that Penn should ensure that compliance metrics are integrated into performance reviews to help boost compliance.
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