Gambling regulators from New Jersey have punished Chicago-based provider, Rush Street Interactive (RSI), with $30,000 for permitting minors to gamble online.
On January 7th, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement made a ruling in which they placed precisely that amount as a civil penalty on the company for “permitting individuals under the age of twenty-one to wager online.”
Furthermore, last June, the DGE filed grievance against them. It’s worth mentioning that this entire fuss began almost two years before that, approximately two months after Rush released their PlaySugarHouse.com website in New Jersey’s regulated online market.
What Happened Then?
Thirteen young people, aged from eighteen to twenty years were allowed to register an account and determine the amount of money they wanted to wager.
Furthermore, three of them had the ability to make deposits, while the rest wagered only with bonus funds.
This site had a section called, ‘Know Your Customer,’ which was utilizing ‘Date of Birth’ software that wasn’t functioning properly. Namely, because of it, these thirteen individuals were able to avoid any form of detection which was later discovered by RSI, somewhere around January last year.
Sugar House On This Event:
For those of you who don’t know, Sugar House is a Pennsylvania- based casino operated by RSI.
Once they heard about the scandal, they released a statement where they tried to justify themselves by claiming that responsible gaming is their number one concern and that everything revolving this incident is taken seriously.
Moreover, they stated that as soon as it was discovered that something was wrong with their software, they immediately reported the issue to the DGE with the intention of preventing further consequences and improving the current situation.
The First Case:
Although no one can guarantee this for sure, many believe that this is the first case of this kind, at least when it comes to New Jersey and online gambling.
Still, as we stated above, no one can guarantee that it was the only one, however, they are surely hoping that it is going to be the last one.
Furthermore, PlaySugarHouse works under the online authorization granted to Atlantic City’s Golden Nugget casino.
Just recently, they were also the “guest” of the DGE’s doghouse due to the fact that they were caught taking money on New Jersey-based college sports, which means they went against the state’s betting rules.
Source: “Rush Street Fined $30k For Underage NJ Online Gambling” https://calvinayre.com/2019/01/24/business/new-jersey-fines-rush-street-underage-online-gambling/. Calvin Ayre. January 24, 2019.
Comment: How can they be so irresponsible? I truly can’t believe it!
