New Jersey Gambling Operators Hit with Fines of Over $158k

  • Multiple financial penalties issued by New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE)
  • Main recipient in latest period reported was SG Digital, ordered to pay $100,000
  • William Hill, Caesars Entertainment, and PokerStars among other operators hit with fines
judge's mallet and financial penalty document
According to its latest regulatory decisions report, New Jersey’s Division of Gaming Enforcement issued fines totaling $158,536 to online sports betting and gambling operators in the state. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

The state keeping the gambling sector in check

The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) has hit online sports betting and gambling operators with fines totaling $158,536. The state’s authorities published the information in its latest bi-monthly report on regulatory decisions earlier this week.

The main recipient of the total amount fined

The recipient of a large portion of the total incurred in fines recently is the SG Digital division of Scientific Games, which operates in New Jersey under the name of NYX Digital Gaming.

DGE approved a penalty of $100,000 against the operator

The DGE approved a penalty of $100,000 against the operator on November 18. The fine was issued over the company offering three games that had not been tested and approved by the authorities. 

The games were made available online to the public towards the end of January, through a number of online partners NYX Digital Gaming has in the state. They were not removed until March.

The discovery of the three games came following an internal audit of SG Digital. The company was fined an additional $10,000 for multiple violations of regulations. 

Other cases of operators falling foul of NJ authorities

William Hill was another major brand at the receiving end of a DGE fine. The sports betting operator was ordered to pay $26,500 for accepting online bets from 16 gamblers who had added themselves to the self-exclusion list. William Hill also had to forfeit about $5,000 it had won from the betting activity of its self-excluded customers. 

$26,500 for accepting online bets from 16 gamblers who had added themselves to the self-exclusion list

The iGaming Cloud division of the Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) was also struck with multiple penalties. Its operation saw it being fined $7,000 for allowing self-excluded gamblers to open accounts and place bets.

GiG’s cloud-based online gaming platform also incurred a $2,000 penalty for releasing a game that contained features that were not approved by the authorities. There were other issues with its back-end systems which caused system crashes and failures in the wagering summary-reporting processes.

Smaller offenses in the state

The fining of gambling operators is a common occurrence in the state of New Jersey. Recently, PokerStars was fined $5,000 after the site lost two hours’ worth of poker hand data. This was not the first penalty issued by the state to the online poker room.

Gambling provider GAN was ordered to pay $1,000 over its website not performing to an adequate standard, while two casinos owned by Caesars Entertainment had to forfeit the $8,000 won from banned individuals. 

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