Rock Ohio Caesars fined $200,000 for failing to disclose financial information to the Ohio Casino Control Commission
This is a SLOT BARN:
The banks of slot machines at the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland attract gamblers. (Joshua Gunter, The Plain Dealer)
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on August 20, 2014
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The owner of Horseshoe Casino Cleveland will pay a $200,000 fine for failing to tell the Ohio Casino Commission it did not complete a loan refinancing, the commission announced Wednesday.
ROC Finance LLC, a subsidiary of Rock Ohio Caesars, which owns casinos in Cleveland and Cincinnati and ThistleDown Racino, failed to be transparent in its financial transactions, which is vital to the integrity of casino gaming, said Matt Schuler, executive director of the commission.
"Financial suitability of casino operators is one of the cornerstones of the casino control law," he said.
"The way we are able to do our part on behalf of the people of Ohio is to have a transparency with the casinos and holding companies on their finances."
The company acknowledged its error.
"ROC Finance LLC, the sole entity and owner of casino properties in Cincinnati and Cleveland, fully recognizes the disclosure and notification requirements of the OCCC," said Matt Cullen, president of Rock Ohio Caesars in an emailed statement. "ROC Finance has swiftly taken the necessary steps to refine our internal processes, policies and procedures related to debt transaction requests to ensure future compliance."
Ohio law requires casino operators and holding companies to be completely transparent and to notify the commission of everything that occurs, Schuler said.
In February, 2013 Rock Ohio sought and received approval from the commission to refinance a loan for furniture, fixtures and equipment for its casinos and racino, he said.
In September Rock Ohio brought an amendment to the refinancing loan to the commission, which approved it, he said. But the commission later learned Rock Ohio had failed to close on the initial refinancing earlier that year and did not notify the commission.
"The integrity of casino gaming is that all of the operations of the casino and holding companies are transparent in front of the regulator," he said. "When any kind of significant financial transaction -- or any financial transaction -- is not disclosed and the commission is not informed the commission is not able to do its due diligence."
The commission notified Rock Ohio of the violation two months ago. The company chose not to have a hearing before an independent judge and agreed to settle that matter.
That included paying the fine and agreeing to implement remedial measures to its internal financial procedures.
The amount of the fine, which will go into the state's general fund, was determined by talking to gaming officials in other states and casino commission employees with experience working in other states, Schuler said.
While a few fines have been levied against casinos for compliance violations, this was the largest and the first related to financial disclosures, he said.
http://www.cleveland.com/casino/index.ssf/2014/08/horseshoe_casino_cleveland_own.html
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