Two Las Vegas casino companies fined for sports wagering violations

Two Las Vegas casino companies’ outlets in Massachusetts have been fined by that state’s gaming commission for violating its new sports wagering law.

MGM Springfield, operated by MGM Resorts International, was fined $20,000 and Encore Boston Harbor, operated by Wynn Resorts Ltd., was fined $10,000 for violations that occurred in February, shortly after sports wagering became legal in the state.

In addition, Plainridge Park Casino, operated by Pennsylvania-based Penn Entertainment Inc., was fined $20,000 for a similar violation.

The three fines were issued by the commission Monday. Legal sports betting went live in Massachusetts in January.

A representative of BetMGM, the affiliate that handles MGM’s sports wagering, had no comment on the fines. A representative of Wynn Resorts also had no comment.

In each of the illegal incidents, casinos accidentally offered to take bets on basketball games involving Massachusetts universities in violation of state law. Massachusetts’ new sports wagering law prohibits casinos from taking bets on Bay State schools unless the game is part of a larger tournament.

In the MGM violation, kiosks at MGM Springfield took 28 bets on the Feb. 3 Harvard vs. Yale basketball game and the Feb. 4 Harvard vs. Brown game. Two winning wagers were redeemed at the casino’s sportsbook and two were redeemed at a kiosk. The illegal wagers were offered for 21 hours and 20 hours, respectively.

According to the commission, BetMGM incorrectly coded Harvard as being in Connecticut. When the mistake was discovered in an audit, the company made the necessary corrections.

In the Encore Boston Harbor incident, WynnBET, the affiliated vendor handling Wynn Resorts’ sports wagering, took one bet as part of a parlay involving the Feb. 2 Boston College vs. Notre Dame women’s regular season basketball game. The mistake was discovered that day and the bet was voided prior to the settlement of the ticket.

When Wynn self-reported the incident, it was reported that the company experienced a system error due to the team being known by two different names.

Commissioners did not say specifically why the MGM fine was twice as large as the Wynn fine, but commentary in the disciplinary action pointed to the number of illegal wagers placed and the amount of time it took to resolve the problem.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.