The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission has voted to approve three fines issued to sports betting operators for allowing the illegal use of credit cards to fund sports wagering accounts.
Both BetMGM and Elite Hospitality were fined $60,000 each while SCE Partners was fined $20,000. This brings the total number of sports betting operators fined during this investigation to five.
Speaking in a Commission meeting, Racing and Gaming Administrator Brian Ohorilko said of the fines:
“In these particular cases, they involve some prepaid cards, a complicated type of transaction where customers either unknowingly or willingly circumvented the credit card rules. And so we do think though, I should mention, that this is an isolated incident.”
Ohorilko also added that this type of license breach is rare and something that the casino industry has very few instances of adding:
“In the casino environment, there are a number of physical controls that are in place,” he says, “and so you know, you cannot use a credit card you cannot put a credit card into a slot machine and so the only way to use a credit card in a physical casino would be to get some sort of cash advance.”
Representatives from the three fined sports gambling operators appeared at the commission meeting. They informed the commission that they are taking steps to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
Ohorilko says the fines should serve as a warning to other operators in the state:
“Two years ago the law was changed in Iowa that called out the use of credit cards for wagering on any type of sports wagering and gambling games, and so it is something that is very important to the policymakers in this state and it’s something that we really don’t want to see.”
An experienced iGaming commentator and analyst based in New York City - Jenny reports on regulation and gambling industry news and events.