The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) recently issued an infraction document that made a few online gambling operators in the Garden State unhappy. Those operators are now a little lighter in the wallet, as the DGE levied a total of $150,000 in fines for various regulatory infractions.
The five companies that the DGE fined are:
• SG Digital
• PokerStars
• iGaming Cloud
• GAN
• William Hill Sportsbook
The fines ranged from $1,000 to $100,000 depending on the infractions, which included operating games that were not approved, the loss of data, and for serving players on the self-exclusion list.
SG in spotlight over unapproved casino games
The biggest fine that the DGE levied was against SG Digital for $100,000. The charges related to three of the company’s online casino games. While the initial versions of the games were approved by the DGE, the updated editions were not.
The regulations for online casinos in New Jersey stipulate that the games offered have to be exactly the same as the ones that are tested. If there are any changes made to the games, they have to be sent into the New Jersey regulators for testing three days before that game is offered to players.
The error that SG Digital made in the three newer versions of games approved were found during an internal audit by the company. On January 29, 2019, the new versions of the games were accessible to players on all online casino platforms. The games in question were Zeus III, Epic Monopoly II, and 888 Fortunes. iGaming Cloud also had an accessible game of a version that was not approved, and they were fined $2,000.
iGaming Cloud and PokerStars stung over lost data
Besides being fined $100,000 for offering unapproved casino games, SG Digital was also hit with an additional fine of $10,000 for failing to provide the necessary information to support the company’s qualifications for operating in New Jersey.
iGaming Cloud was given another fine of $2,000 for a system crash that resulted in the loss of data. The company rectified the error but was fined anyway for failing to notify the regulators about what had happened.
PokerStars also lost data, reporting that 202 customers’ hand histories had vanished. The info went missing in a two-hour window on April 30, 2019, and the company was not able to recover the lost data.
William Hill caught serving self-excluded gamblers
Two companies were fined a combined $33,500 because they did not monitor customers in compliance with New Jersey’s self-exclusion program. Some 16 self-excluded players were able to place wagers at William Hill Sportsbook, which was fined $26,500 as a result.
iGaming Cloud was levied another fine to the tune of $7,000 because they allowed players that were on the list to open accounts and make wagers.