Mount Airy Casino in Pennsylvania Fined for Allowing 11- and 13-Year-Olds to Gamble

Posted on: September 21, 2022, 04:56h. 

Last updated on: September 22, 2022, 10:35h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Mount Airy Casino Resort in the Pennsylvania Pocono Mountains has been slapped with a $160,000 fine. The penalty is for three instances in which the casino allowed individuals under the legal gambling age of 21 to gamble.

Mount Airy Casino Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board
Mount Airy Casino Resort will pay Pennsylvania $160,000 for allowing four underage guests to gamble on slot machines. The casino will also pay more than $100,000 to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board for not properly renewing key employee licenses. (Image: Mount Airy Casino Resort)

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) disclosed today that Mount Airy has recently failed on multiple occasions to keep underage persons from gambling on its gaming floor. The state says the casino allowed an 18-year-old male, two 13-year-old females, and an 11-year-old female to play slot machines.

The 18-year-old was reportedly by himself when he wrongly accessed the casino floor. The two 13-year-old twins were with their mother, who accompanied the kids as they gambled on slot machines. The 11-year-old girl was with her parents, who allowed the child to gamble on at least 10 different slot machines before casino security intervened.

The PGCB says the $160,000 fine resulted from a settlement reached between the casino and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office of Enforcement Counsel.

Adults Only

Each of Pennsylvania’s 16 land-based casinos requires identification for entry. State-issued driver’s licenses and other qualifying proof of identification are to be scanned to confirm the validity of the license and assure that the person seeking entry is not on a self-exclusion or involuntary exclusion list.

Casinos are required to post signage at their entrances informing guests that only people aged 21 and older qualify to gamble. The sign must read:

It is unlawful for any individuals under 21 years of age to enter or remain in any area where slot machines or table games are operated. It is unlawful for any individual under the age of 21 to wager, play, or attempt to play a slot machine or table game. Individuals violating this prohibition will be removed and may be subject to arrest and criminal prosecution.”

The PGCB did not say whether charges have been brought against the underage individuals who gambled at Mount Airy, nor whether the parents of the young girls will face charges.

While only people aged 21 and over can gamble in Pennsylvania, the state allows for minors to be escorted across a gaming floor in a resort setting, such as Mount Airy. Underage people are given wristbands to identify them as a minor.

Mountain of Fines

Mount Airy being on the hook for $160,000 for allowing the four underage persons access to gamble wasn’t the only substantial penalty the casino was levied this week. The PGCB also fined the casino $100,825 for failing to timely file 32 corporate or individual renewal applications with the state by the statutorily mandated due dates.

The more than a quarter of a million dollars in fines are only the latest penalties assessed against Mount Airy by the PGCB. In early 2019, the casino paid a $250,000 fine to the state for overserving a patron with alcohol. Hours later, the person struck and killed a jogger while driving his vehicle intoxicated.

And in November 2020, Mount Airy was fined $90,000 for giving out more free slot play than was legally permitted.