Indiana Casino Fined For Justin Timberlake Grand Opening Debacle

If any casino knew the kind of outrage there would be at their grand opening if it was announced that a big name star would not be showing up, they would probably want to keep that information concealed until after the opening.

That is the approach that Indiana Live casino near Shelbyville, Indiana took at their grand opening. Timberlake was supposed to the the star in attendance at the opening, but the day of the event arrived, and Timberlake did not.

The casino, at the time, acted as if it was a surprise that Timberlake had skirted his commitment. It turns out now, however, that casino officials knew TImberlake was not going to be there the day before the grand opening. They chose to keep that information private, and now will be paying the price.

The Indiana Gaming Commission fined Indiana Live $40,000 for not revealing that Timberlake was not coming, and for carrying on with the promotion anyway. The Commission claimed that the move could have damaged the reputation of the gaming industry in the state.

The casino has admitted their wrongdoing, and that they should have alerted the public as soon as they knew Timberlake would not be in attendance. Of course, there were record numbers of visitors at the grand opening, so it may have still paid off for the casino to keep their little secret from the day before.

The casino also was hit with fines totaling $84,000 for four other violations since they have been open. The majority of those fines came from mistakes in daily revenue reports, something that is not uncommon among new casinos.

July 17, 2009
Posted By Terry Goodwin
Staff Editor, CasinoGamblingWeb.com
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