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MGC accepts IEB recommendation to assess $7,500 penalty against Caesars Sportsbook for unapproved event offering
Summary
The commission accepted the Investigations & Enforcement Bureau’s recommendation to assess a $7,500 civil administrative penalty on American Wagering, Inc., doing business as Caesars Sportsbook, for offering an unapproved golf event on its platform; the commission voted 4-0 to accept the recommendation.
Senior Enforcement Counsel Zach Mer told commissioners the Investigations & Enforcement Bureau recommends a $7,500 civil administrative penalty against American Wagering, Inc., doing business as Caesars Sportsbook, for making an unapproved event available for wagering in late 2024.
"Today the IEB is presenting its recommendation that the commission assess a civil administrative penalty in the amount of $7,500 upon American Wagering, Inc. doing business as Caesars Sportsbook for a non-compliance matter occurring between November 25th, 2024 and December 16th, 2024," Zach Mer said.
Mer said the event — a head-to-head golf "Showdown" not approved as part of the Massachusetts catalog — was made available for wagering on Nov. 25, 2024 after a trader mistakenly treated it as part of an approved match series, and the impermissible offering remained available until it was identified by the sports wagering division and removed. Caesars refunded wagers before the event and cooperated with the bureau’s investigation.
Commissioners questioned what remedial steps Caesars took after receiving an email from the sports wagering division notifying operators about the permissibility issue. Mer said the IEB focused on whether the operator had adequate internal checks and described conversations with Caesars in which the operator emphasized additional trader training and internal instruction to consult the jurisdiction-specific permissibility charts before listing markets.
Commissioner Skinner and others urged the regulator and operators to consider whether additional redundancies or automatic flags are needed so a single trader’s action cannot put an operator at risk of offering an unapproved market.
The commission voted to accept the IEB recommendation and the assessment of the $7,500 penalty, 4-0. The IEB noted the operator was cooperative; the commission directed staff to continue monitoring remediation and communications protocols.
Why it matters: The action underscores regulator scrutiny of operators’ controls for listing permissible events and signals that the commission is prepared to impose administrative penalties when operators make unapproved offerings available to bettors.
Next steps: Staff will continue monitoring operator remediation efforts and may return to the commission if further corrective measures or rule changes are needed.
