Three Black Hawk casinos face thousands of dollars in fines for having defective software in slot machines on the gaming floor.
The software records data about a machine’s usage, which is then used by the casinos for tax-related reports that are submitted to the Colorado Division of Gaming. The state revoked the software in May, and the casinos were given 120 days to remove it from their slots.
“The casinos were given notice that the software needed to be replaced, and they failed to do so,” said Don Burmania, a spokesman for the Gaming Division.
The Isle of Capri, the state’s largest casino, had five slots with the revoked software, the Riviera Black Hawk had three and the Golden Gulch Casino had one, Burmania said Thursday.
The casinos face up to $25,000 in fines per violation, though the fines are likely to range from $250 to $1,000 per device, based on penalties levied previously for similar infractions.
Fines will be determined over the next couple of months, Burmania said.
He said the division’s independent gaming laboratory found that the software’s bill counters were unable to handle numbers larger than 32,767 for any bill denomination. Once a machine’s bill counter surpassed that number, it would jump to 94,901,760.
Burmania said regulators haven’t found an instance where this malfunction occurred in a casino. They ordered the casinos to remove the software from the gaming floor as a precautionary measure.
Isle of Capri general manager John Bohannon said the software dealt with back-end issues and “never impacts the play of a game.”
Mark Lefever, president of the Riviera Black Hawk, declined to comment.
Last year, the Riviera Black Hawk was fined $3,000 for having 10 slot machines with revoked software that had the potential of clearing a machine’s record of how many times it had been played. The Golden Gulch Casino was fined $8,500 for 19 similar slot violations and the Isle of Capri $1,200 for four violations.
Those fines were among the first penalties ever levied by regulators against casinos for slot-machine violations.
A review by The Denver Post last year found that Colorado had the fewest officials assigned to oversee slot machines per device among states that have commercial casinos.
In July, the Gaming Division added two investigators to inspect slot machines, the first time the division had added new full-time employees since 1995.
Canyon Casino in Black Hawk was recently fined $2,250 for having a bill validator in three slot machines that had never been approved by regulators. Legends Casino in Cripple Creek was fined $7,000 for having seven slot machines that had software that could potentially display the wrong value of a progressive jackpot.
Andy Vuong: 303-954-1209 or avuong@denverpost.com
$25,000 amount in fines casinos face per violation
$250 to $1,000 likely amount of the fine per machine
120 days to remove the offending software
