Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course has been fined $20,000 by the state for holding poker tournaments last year that were not properly approved by state regulators.
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board approved the fine Wednesday, in approving a consent agreement between its Office of Enforcement Counsel and the casino’s owners.
In the case at hand, Hollywood’s Director of Compliance Alex Hvizda self-reported the incidents after becoming aware of the problems, which included:
- A “Labor Day Classic” poker tournament that, Hvizda said because of staff turnover in the poker department, never was submitted to PGCB for review.
- Recurring weeknight poker tournaments that were run at a $120 entry fee, instead of the $80 entry that Hollywood was approved for. Penn National had a $120 entry approved for weekends, but $80 for weeknights. In total, Hvizda said these tourneys were run 95 times at the wrong price between Feb. 5 and Sept. 12.
Penn National has since applied for and received approval to run all of its recurring tournaments at $120, which results in bigger prize pools, Hvizda said.
The violations were the first noted for Hollywood since its casino license was renewed in November 2018.
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