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Rivers Casino in Portsmouth, Virginia, has agreed to pay more than a half-million dollars in fines to settle several violations of state gaming regulations that occurred last year and earlier this year.
The Virginia Lottery fined Rivers Casino $545,000 in two settlements. One settlement was agreed to in September and resulted in a $40,000 fine and the other was agreed to in May at a cost of $505,000.
In March, the Virginia Lottery and Rivers Casino reviewed alleged violations of the Casino Gaming Law that included underage persons on the casino floor in December 2003 and January 2024, as well as the presence of a voluntary excluded person on the casino floor in January.
Virginia regulators also found a lack of controls over accounting and surveillance operations in June and July 2023 and in February, and a lack of controls over revenue reporting and table game operations between September 2023 and January, according to the three-page settlement agreement.
Rivers was obliged to pay $505,000 to settle the complaint. There has not been a formal finding as to the merits of the allegations, but the settlement was agreed to in an effort to avoid a formal hearing, state gaming regulators said.
Rivers Casino was fined $275,000 in March 2023 for the presence of underage and excluded persons on the gaming floor, as well as regulatory violations prior to the casino’s opening on January 23, 2023, according to the three-page settlement agreement with the Virginia Lottery.
In a separate settlement agreement, the Virginia Lottery found that, in August 2023, underage guests were allowed to enter the casino floor. Virginia gaming regulators did not release the age of the individuals or if they were able to gamble at slot machines or table games on the casino floor.
Lottery officials agreed to a $40,000 penalty instead of holding a formal hearing on the violations.
Rivers Casino executives were unavailable for comment Sunday (July 7). Roy Corby, general manager at Rivers Casino, told The Virginian Pilot that the casino takes these “matters very serious and respect the decision of the Virginia Lottery.”
“We have reviewed and revised procedures to help prevent recurrence,” Corby told the newspaper.
If Rivers violates the terms of the settlement agreements, the director of the Virginia Lottery may impose a sanction or penalty on the casino.
Since opening in January 2023, Rivers Casino Portsmouth, which is owned by Rush Street Gaming, has paid $820,000 in regulatory settlements to the Virginia Lottery. The lottery regulates casino gaming and sports betting in Virginia.
According to Virginia’s gaming laws, proceeds from regulatory fines are allocated to the state’s general fund.
