The State Gaming Control Board is an organization that oversees the gaming regulations and practices of all companies within the Las Vegas and Nevada area. They have now filed a complaint against the Old Leroy’s Race and Sports Book Chain after discovering that they had received unauthorized acceptance of a number of bets during the 2012 Kentucky Derby, by certain locations within the company. This represents a huge misstep on the part of the company, and is open them up to possible discipline being handed down by the Gaming Control Board.
The violations were first brought forward on November 29 and made public shortly thereafter. They have been self-reported, and reportedly took place before Leroy’s was acquired by William Hill PLC, a gaming company that is huge and the United Kingdom.
The takeover of the company was approved by the the Nevada gaming commission on June 21. Now, the Gaming Control Board is asking that a fine be applied to the company, for the violations that were spelled out clearly in the complaint. The complaint states that on May 9, Leroy is reported to the board that on May 5 that had accepted Kentucky Derby bets, at four different locations, all of which were licensed to accept sports wagers, but were not licensed to accept race wagers. These locations included Colorado Belle in Laughlin, Hooters in Las Vegas, Stockmen’s in Elko, and Poker Palace in Northern Las Vegas.
The complaint goes on to state that this appears to be a repeated theme throughout the history of the company. A similar incident took place in 2003, when the company also accepted Kentucky Derby bets set locations that were not authorized. The complaint also states that when the company found a scheme targeting betting kiosks at more than 30 locations, they made changes to their software without first gaining approval from the Gaming Control Board.
The scheme involved the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in March. Many of the kiosks had weaknesses in the betting software, and the schemer or schemers would repeatedly hit the deposit button on the kiosks after inserting cash, causing for multiple wagers to be placed. These double beds, meant that they were inserting an amount of cash, but were being treated as if they had that double or triple that amount, depending on how many times the deposit was registered in the kiosks. Before making software modifications, all gambling companies are required to speak with the Gaming Control Board and get all of those modifications approved before going into place. However, all of the bets that were placed on the Kentucky Derby were done so without the use of kiosks, and were direct violation of law. It will be interesting to see what kind of fine is handed down, and whether or not the new management is going to be held responsible for the past owners mistakes. With a history of mistakes revolving around the company, you can expect to find to be handed down at some point, to make it clear that the rules have to be followed and that even small software modifications must be approved and everything properly licensed.