Hollywood Casino Finer Record Amount From Illinois Gaming Board

It is common practice for casinos to send out promotional mailers to potential customers. It is a way to drive up revenue and to have new customers come out to the casino.

It is not common practice, however, for the casino to send out the mailers to problem gamblers who have been on the casinos self exclusion banned list. That is what a casino in Aurora, Illinois has done.

Hollywood Casino sent out promotional mailers to potential customers. 146 of the 15,900 flyers that were mailed went out to problem gamblers that were banned by the casino. The result is the biggest fine ever handed down by the Illinois Gaming Board.

The casino was hit with a $800,000 fine. Three managers were also suspended for sending the letters. The Board claims that the casino should have checked their exclusion list before sending out the mailers.

The suspensions were not as harsh as the fine. The longest suspension that was given was to marketing services manager, Christopher Rellinger. He received fourteen days suspension. Vice-president of Marketing Alan Rosenzweig was suspended for ten days. Patt Medchill, the casino's General Manager was suspended for three days.

The casino rented a list of names from a firm that operates ATM machines at casinos throughout the state. The casino was expected by the Gaming Board to then check the names against their exclusion list to ensure that none of the banned problem gamblers received the promotional mailing.

May 21, 2008
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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