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The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission (IRGC) has fined DraftKings $20,000 for self-exclusion violations and for offering impermissible wagers, while ClutchBet operator BlueBet has been fined $5,000 for self-exclusion violations.
Under state gaming regulations, licensees are required to follow a process, established by the IRGC, to allow a person to be voluntarily excluded from gambling on sports, fantasy sports or casino games.
On August 6, ClutchBet downloaded the updated information as required from the self-exclusion database. The next download should have been on or before August 12; however, it was not completed until August 14, resulting in the $5,000 penalty.
DraftKings was fined $10,000 after an update to the company's systems that compare self-excluded persons to DraftKings account-holders did not include the process to search for social security numbers. The update operated for 83 days, which allowed one individual who should have had his account restricted to continue to have access.
In a second settlement, DraftKings was fined $5,000 for additional self-exclusion violations, and $5,000 for accepting 28 mobile wagers totaling $468.71 in handle for an April 7, 2023 Professional Fighters League (PFL) fight between Biaggio All Walsh and Isaiah Figueroa as part of an overall fight card.
The IRGC noted that it was an impermissible event as the PFL categorized it as an amateur fight.
Gaming & Leisure Properties (GLPI) released more information on Friday (October 25) concerning the company’s first-of-its-kind sale and leaseback transaction with the Ione Band of Miwok Indians near Sacramento, California.
The deal is the first ever between a real estate investment trust (REIT) and a Native American tribe.
“I would say [it’s] the culmination of a multi-year process that we’ve been working on to try and come up with a structure that can be utilized where you have land held in trust by a tribe,” GLPI CFO Brandon Moore told analysts during a third-quarter earnings call.
Moore said the most important part of the deal is the lease, which has received National Indian Gaming Commission approval. He said the transaction includes a five-year loan to finance the construction of a greenfield development outside Sacramento.
The lease has an initial term of 25 years but can be extended to 45 years. Moore stressed that GLPI has all the protections that a commercial lender would enjoy, including the option to foreclose on the property and can operate everything except the casino.
After 45 years, Moore told analysts, the Ione tribe keeps the land, and both parties would go their separate ways.
“We have met with tribes over the last several years,” he added. “We’re in the process of going back to many of those tribes now that we have the (NIGC) letter in hand.”
Moore said GLPI has entered into non-disclosure agreements with tribes over the specific structure of the deal.
Iowa fines a clutch of gambling operators over self-exclusion failures and more details are released about the first U.S. real estate investment trust deal with a indigenous tribe.
