New Jersey Regulators Fine Atlantic City Casinos $33,000 for Rule Violations

Four Atlantic City casinos and an Internet gambling firm must forfeit winnings and pay fines totaling more than $33,000 for various gambling rule violations.

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement issued the penalties earlier this month, and made them public on Monday.

The Trump Taj Mahal must forfeit more than $16,000 it seized from three gamblers who had signed up for a self-exclusion list that prohibits them from gambling.

In one instance, a man who signed up in 2005 to ban himself from the casinos was found playing blackjack at the Taj Mahal six years later with $6,217 in chips. A second man who had signed up for a 5-year ban from the casinos was found near the end of that term playing slots, where he won $9,235, and also had a gambling voucher for an additional $1,095 in his possession. A third man on the self-exclusion list won $100 playing poker.

The Borgata must forfeit more than $3,700 it confiscated from gamblers who could not prove they were 21 years old. The forfeitures involve money withheld from 55 gamblers who either could not provide identification, or produced inadequate identification, to prove that they were over the legal gambling age. The seizures took place between Oct. 2012 and Nov. 2013.

The gambling enforcement division issued a $10,000 fine against bwin.party, an online affiliate of the Borgata, for violating the terms of a divestiture agreement by one of its stockholders.

Resorts was fined $3,000 for cashier rule violations, in which one cashier swapped a stack of $100 bills totaling $3,000 for an equal amount of cash in $10 and $20 bills, leaving the money on a counter along with a records slip while the main bank cashier was away from his work station temporarily. Upon returning to the work station, the main cashier signed the transfer slip, but did so without having witnessed the transaction.

The casinos did not contest the fines or forfeiture orders.

The forfeited money goes to a state fund for programs for senior citizens and the disabled.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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