Station Casinos In Nevada accept post-game sports bets, says Nevada gaming board?

• Brian Jeacoma
• September 26, 2021

Station Casinos could be facing severe disciplinary action after the Nevada Gaming Control Board filed a complaint against the company. The complaint refers to several sports betting violations. Nevada’s Station Casinos is one of the largest gambling operators in the state. The company owns numerous gaming establishments across the Vegas Valley. These include Green Valley Ranch, Red Rock Casino, Palace Station, Boulder Station, and Santa Fe Station.

Numerous Sports Betting Violations

The NGCB’s complaint includes accusations that the Station Casinos have accepted hundreds of bets with already known outcomes. According to the complaint, filed on September 13, the number of bets is approximately 348. These violations happened over the three-year period, from May 31, 2018, to May 19, 2021.

The complaint reports that one of the latest incidents happened on March 18, 2021. On that day, Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa reported a malfunction to their betting system to the Gaming Board. According to the casino, the malfunction caused 167 tickets with already determined betting events to be accepted. Supposedly, the reason for the malfunction was an insufficient memory issue with the casino’s Stadium Live sports betting program. The tickets in question were later voided and the bets were refunded.

However, the Gaming Board states that this is not the first time that this particular issue has happened. According to them, the Station Casinos were already well aware of this specific problem with the wagering system. The complaint claimed that the company failed to undertake the necessary steps to deal with the issue and conduct sufficient monitoring and control over their wagering applications. The gaming regulators require sportsbooks operators to have a “redundant monitoring process” set up to prevent accepting wagers on events with already determined outcomes. The complaint further states that failing to ensure proper sports betting processes reflects poorly on the gamin reputation in the whole state of Nevada.

Potentially Severe Disciplinary Action

The Nevada Gaming Control Board is now asking for disciplinary action from the Nevada Gaming Commission. The complaint states that the operator is responsible for any issue with the Stadium Live Program. Tolerating repeated violations is a ground for severe disciplinary actions, potentially including the license revocation. All three Gaming Board members have signed the complaint.

So far, the Station Casinos representatives have declined to comment on the issue. Also, Nevada Gaming Commission is yet to set a hearing date on the complaint. There’s an option of Gaming Board and Station Casino reaching a stipulated settlement. In that case, the hearing won’t be needed.

To have some sense of what they may expect if they go in terms of the disciplinary action, Station Casinos can look to similar cases from the past. Back in 2018, sports betting operator CG Technology was fined $2 million which included penalties in the amount of $1.75 million and $250K to the Nevada Council on Problem Gaming. The payment was a part of the settlement with the Gaming Board on a four-count complaint. One of the violations was accepting the wagers on the events where the outcome was already determined.