The Rivers Casino in De Plaines Opened to Much Fanfare in 2011
The Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, Illinois was fined $2 million by the state’s Gaming Board on Thursday. The two-million dollars was a record fine for any casino in the state. Several different gaming regulations were violated, including promotional infractions and subcontracting work to a company which might have had organized crime ties.
The Rivers Casino is the largest gaming facility in the state of Illinois, but the operation’s vetting process was run in a fly-by-night fashion, which were uncovered by a nearby TV station and local activists. The local news station’s broadcasts spurred on authorities to investigate the Rivers Casino in minute detail. The results led to the Gaming Board levying a record fine for an Illinois casino.
The Charges against Rivers Casino
Several charges have been made against the gaming facility. On the one hand, executives were found to have provided lax oversight of the various casino promotions offered. Also, internal procedures were not followed in the hiring of maintenance and security personnel. Two men who worked for the casino were brought up on charges stemming from that laxity.
Also, hiring procedures for security and maintenance personnel were not up to state regulations. This led to the suspension of two officers, after an investigation which lasted months.
Better Government Association
Charges were first made by the Rivers Casino by a local TV station and a political action group. The Better Government Association worked alongside NBC5 to investigate the various issues at the casino. The problems were broadcast on NBC5.
Eventually, an investigation was launched into the cleaning company hired by Rivers Casino and, in particular, the company’s president, Richard Simon. The cleaning company, United Maintenance, and its parent company, United Service Companies, may have been clean, but Richard Simon was found to have built a cleaning crew under another company name back in 2004 which had ties to an alleged organized crime figure, William Daddano Jr.
William Daddano Jr.
Daddano and several family members were announced by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan as members of organized crime. The Rivers Casino terminated its relationship with United Cleaning as soon as it heard of the charges.
David Patent’s Statement
David Patent, the Rivers Casino’s president, said in a statement, “Out of an abundance of caution, we terminated our relationship with United, and since then we have been fully cooperating with the Illinois Gaming board in their investigation.”
Despite the quick admission, state regulators announced a record fine. That is understandable, because David Patent’s operation cannot allow itself to be tied to organized crime, even by subterfuge. A company with better verification processes would have spotted the men’s records.
Mr. Patent said he was aware of the Gaming Board’s stipulation that “reputation” is important to regulators. People cannot be hired as contractors even when they have the vaguest hint of a connection to organized crime. The casino hired Richard Simon’s company when it opened in 2011.
Possibility of Appeals
The two men suspended and the Rivers Casino have 21 days to appeal the decision in this case. Neither has announced whether they intend on appealing the case, though $2 million is a significant amount for a private-owned casino outside Las Vegas.
Casinos sometimes have oversights. Atlantic City casinos have been fined for a wide range of incidents in the past two years alone. For instance, a couple were fined for allowing underage people to both gamble and drink. In one case, the underage gambler was found passed-out under a gaming table, after having been served free alcoholic drinks for 7 hours. In other cases, the fines are for less serious matters. Another Atlantic City casino was fined for having improper signage.
Las Vegas casinos have been fined huge sums of money. Las Vegas Sands was fined $47 million by the FinCen for allowing an alleged Mexican cartel member to gamble as a high roller back in 2006. Caesars Entertainment was recently fined $60 million for various infractions. Even a casino in the Marianas Island was fined $20 million for violations, though the fine was lowered to $2 milion when it was discovered the fine would put the casino out of business.
