The penalty was approved during the board’s public meeting on March 25 and stems from a consent agreement negotiated with the agency’s Office of Enforcement Counsel following an investigation into BetMGM’s account monitoring and identity verification practices.

Fraud rings exploited gaps in identity checks

According to regulators, BetMGM’s systems were not strong enough to stop users from opening and operating multiple accounts using stolen or improperly used personal information. Officials pointed to shortcomings in the operator’s Know-Your-Customer (KYC) procedures, which are meant to verify a bettor’s identity before they can place wagers.

Investigators said four separate fraud rings exploited those weaknesses over periods ranging from 19 to 34 months. Over that time, the groups created hundreds of accounts using other people’s identifying details and funded them with fraudulently obtained payment methods.

• operated for approximately 25 months until January 2024 with 1,567 accounts created using personal identifying information of other individuals and $229,580 of combined wagering;
• operated for approximately 34 months until November 2024 with 34 accounts created using personal identifying information of other individuals and over $14,598 of combined wagering;
• operated for approximately 29 months until November 2023 with 119 accounts created using personal identifying information of other individuals and $895,092 of combined wagering
• operated for approximately 19 months until December 2023 with 304 accounts created using personal identifying information of other individuals and $867,910 of combined wagering

Regulators said the scale and duration of the activity showed that BetMGM’s controls were not sufficient to detect or stop the misuse of customer information and payment instruments, both of which are core compliance requirements for licensed online gaming operators in the state.

Exclusion list grows as enforcement continues

Alongside the fine, the board also added 16 individuals to its involuntary exclusion lists, which bar people from gambling at Pennsylvania’s casinos, online platforms, and video gaming terminals located at approved truck stops.

Four of those cases involved adults who left minors unattended while they gambled. In one incident, a person left an 11-year-old in a vehicle for 52 minutes at Hollywood Casino York. In another case, a 9-year-old was left alone in a parking lot at Rivers Casino Philadelphia for more than an hour.

With the latest additions, the number of people on Pennsylvania’s exclusion lists has risen to 1,515, reflecting regulators’ increasing use of the measure as both a consumer-protection tool and a deterrent.

Part of a broader compliance crackdown

The action against BetMGM comes amid heightened scrutiny of compliance controls across the U.S. sports betting industry. Regulators in Massachusetts, for example, have recently issued tens of thousands of dollars in combined fines to several sportsbooks for violations related to prohibited betting activity and reporting failures.

At the same time, MGM Resorts International and BetMGM have continued expanding their responsible gaming initiatives, directing additional funding toward research, education, and player-protection tools. Regulators have repeatedly said those programs are important, but cases like the Pennsylvania fraud investigation show that day-to-day operational controls and technical safeguards remain a central focus of enforcement.

Next regulatory meeting set for April

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is scheduled to hold its next public meeting on April 29 in Harrisburg, where further enforcement actions and regulatory matters are expected to be reviewed.

Featured image: Cicku, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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The news comes from the desk of the betting watchdog and takes the grand total of fines given to gambling operators across 2025 to 58 sanctions and a reported €111 million ($128m).

Directorate General for Gambling Regulation stern with operators

The DGOJ is headed by politician and lobbyist Pablo Bustinduy, who also has a role as Minister of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030.

He has a pedigree in social policy, having led research posts at City College of New York, New York University, and the University of Milan. He has also been a visiting professor at Columbia University and a Research Fellow at the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University.

La política social debe fundar horizontes de certidumbre para un mundo en crisis. En mi primera intervención como miembro del Gobierno, he querido señalar algunas claves políticas y estratégicas que guiarán la acción del Ministerio. pic.twitter.com/EF4Frwrc1j

— Pablo Bustinduy (@pbustinduy) November 21, 2023

Bustinduy’s office has cracked down on 26 licensed operators for very serious gambling infractions, and 6 operators in breach of gambling regulations and as a result have had their sites blocked.

Of the Spanish gambling operators sanctioned, some well-known names were in the list. According to the press release, 888 Online was fined €250,000 ($290,000) by the overseer for “failing to comply with the technical requirements of the regulations concerning software and communication systems, and for using unapproved or unauthorized technical systems.”

Betfair received a fine of €100,000 ($116,000) for failing to comply with responsible gambling rules as an individual was allowed to bet with a €0 balance. The DGOJ classified it as a serious breach of the gambling brand’s responsibility, and the slap on the wrist was reduced to €60,000 after Betfair’s early admission to the oversight.

Of the 6 other Spanish gambling sites that had the most serious infractions, XYZ Entertainment, Moonrail Limited, EOD Code SRL, Samaki, Lone Rock Holdings, and Novaforge all received a €5 million ($5.7 million) fine.

The DGOJ, closed the statement saying, “So far this year, including this latest round of fines, the Ministry headed by Pablo Bustinduy has imposed 58 serious and very serious sanctions, totaling almost €111 million.”

Featured image: DGOJ Official

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The proposed penalty is for safety violations that occurred from September 2023 through February 2024, the FAA said Friday.

That period includes the January 2024 blowout of a paneled-over exit door — called a door plug —- on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 shortly after it took off from Portland, Oregon.

Boeing’s logo adorns the side of a building at the company factory in Renton, Washington on April 15, 2025. AFP via Getty Images

None of the 171 passengers or six crew members on the flight were seriously injured. Pilots landed the plane safely back at the airport.

In June, the National Transportation Safety Board said its 17-month long investigation found that lapses in Boeing’s manufacturing and safety oversight, combined with ineffective inspections and audits by the FAA, led to the door plug blowout.

The FAA said Friday that it identified hundreds of quality system violations at Boeing’s 737 factory in Renton, Washington, and Boeing subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems’ 737 factory in Wichita, Kansas.

Among other violations, the regulator also found that a Boeing employee pressured a member of Boeing’s ODA unit, which is tasked with performing certain inspections and certifications on the FAA’s behalf, to sign off on a 737 Max airplane “so that Boeing could meet its delivery schedule, even though the ODA member determined the aircraft did not comply with applicable standards.”

In this photo released by the National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB Investigator-in-Charge John Lovell examines the fuselage plug area of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 on Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024, in Portland, Ore. AP

Arlington, Virginia-based Boeing has 30 days to respond to the FAA.

In a statement Saturday, Boeing said it is reviewing the agency’s proposed civil penalty, noting that the company put in place a safety and quality plan last year, under FAA oversight, that aims to enhance safety management and quality assurance in its airplane production.

“We regret the January 2024 door-plug accident and continue to work on strengthening our safety culture and improving first-time quality and accountability across our operations,” the company said.

An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 taxis at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on March 25, 2024 in Seattle, Washington. Getty Images

The Max version of Boeing’s bestselling 737 airplane has been the source of persistent troubles for the company since two of the jets crashed, one in Indonesia in 2018 and another in Ethiopia in 2019, killing a combined 346 people.

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The Justice Department reached a deal in May allowing Boeing to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading U.S. regulators about the Max before the two crashes.

Boeing was also in the news in June when a 787 flown by Air India crashed shortly after takeoff and killed at least 270 people. Investigators have not determined what caused that crash, but so far they have not found any flaws with the model, which has a strong safety record.

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Camping World — which runs more than 250 RV dealerships across the country — raised the new gigantic flag at its Greenville, NC, location in October, according to WLBT.

Greenville, NC, officials have demanded that the massive American flag over a Camping World dealership come down because of zoning regulations. WITN

Local zoning officials say the Stars and Stripes fluttering over the RVs is 15 times bigger than allowed. Even the 120-foot flagpole is too big, coming in at nearly twice the height permitted by local law.

The city started citing Camping World on Wednesday, and the penalties are racking up quickly: As of Friday, there had already been six violations that will cost about $1,150 in fines.

Lemonis said it doesn’t matter because Old Glory is not going anywhere.

“The flag is not coming down,” said the 50-year-old tycoon, whose reality show involves him investing his own money in struggling small businesses.

“You can fine me all you want City of Greenville North Carolina. #NoAmericanFlagIsTooBig,” Lemonis wrote in the social-media post.

It’s not the first time Camping World has gone to battle against local zoning laws over the American flag. In August, a dealership outside Stockton, Calif., demanded the firm take down a similarly huge banner over worries the flagpole could fall over.

Camping World CEO Marcus Lemonis of TV’s “The Profit” says that no matter how many fines he gets, Old Glory isn’t coming down. Getty Images

Lemonis was just as obstinate then, ordering the dealer to keep it up.

“If we felt like we were putting people in danger or causing any issues with air traffic, which would absolutely not be OK, then I wouldn’t do it,” he told Fox40 at the time.

San Joaquin County officials later gave the dealership the green light to keep the flag flying, Fox 26 News said.

Camping World has more than 250 spots across the country. WITN

But Greenville has proven more forceful in its condemnations.

The City Council denied the company’s request to permit the flag earlier this month, claiming Camping World knew what it was doing when it knowingly broke the size regulations.

“Violators shall be issued a written citation which must be paid within 72 hours,” the document issuing the fine read, according to the station.

“If a person fails to pay the civil penalty within 72 hours, the city may recover the penalty together with all costs by filing a civil action in the general court of justice in the nature of a suit to collect a debt.”

City officials told Camping World they would write tickets every day the flag flies — and the flagpole must also be pulled out.

So far, the city hasn’t gone to court to collect the fines.

During the spat over the California flag last year, the Lebanon-born entrepreneur said the big banners are “symbolism about how we feel about this country. “

“I happen to be an immigrant,” he said. “I was given the blessing of being able to enter this country and become a citizen, and I’m grateful for it.”

Such expressions of patriotism “have been part of my life since I was a little child down in Miami, Florida, where we had the largest flagpole in Miami at our car dealership,” he said.

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