Mohegan Sun Pocono Downs made Pennsylvania history in a manner it would rather not, having been slapped with the biggest casino fine in Keystone State history for a slot-machine scam. Already, President Robert Soper had resigned in disgrace last winter and 
former player-development veep Robert Pellegrini is doing time for the fraud that led to the bulk of the $1 million fine. Summarizing court documents, Casino.org reports that “between May 2014 and April 2015, Rochelle Poszeluznyj, a cocktail waitress, would note down customers’ numbers as she served them drinks. She would then pass these numbers on to Pellegrini, who would create fake cards and load them with complementary spins.” The beneficiary of the latter was Mark Joseph Heltzel, who got $420,000 worth of unwarranted free play through these underhanded means. All three of the conspirators are currently in the slammer.
Mohegan Sun tried to spin the embarrassment as a positive, stating it “took immediate action to correct the issues both found by the [Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board] and self-reported. We take great pride in their acknowledgement of our corrective measures and complete cooperation. As an organization, we are glad to have this resolved and are focused on the future.” In other words, move right along, nothing to see here.
* In Florida, the Seminole Tribe is looking askance at over two-dozen “electronic gambling parlors” in the Jacksonville area, arguing that they infringe upon the tribe’s compacted exclusivity for Las Vegas-style casino gambling. The storefront casinos don’t 
make many bones about what they are, with names like Big Chances Internet Café and Fun Cade. It’s not ‘Net-betting, though: “The games they offer are resident on an in-house server. We’re talking blackjack, all other kinds of games,” said tribal counsel Barry Richard. The state had previously dropped the hammer on Internet cafes but this time around “it’s just not high on their priority list,” Richard complains. The Seminole compact is a touchy issue and fears of broaching it have stymied DFS legalization in Florida, among other issues.
As for the importance of compacted games, it will on display at Seminole Brighton Casino, which will be previewing blackjack, three-card poker and War, starting Monday.“The table games will simply enhance our status as being the Lake Okeechobee region’s number one gaming destination,” said General Manager Marty Johns.
* Now that it has settled its issues with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), the Tohono 
O’odham Nation has broken ground on the permanent, $400 million version of Desert Diamond Casino. (The Class II ‘box of slots’ from which the tribe currently offers gambling will be converted to back-of-house functions eventually.) Desert Diamond is strategically located in the Westgate Entertainment District, near the arenas of the Arizona Cardinals and Phoenix Coyotes. Don’t get all excited just yet: Construction is set to take until late 2019.
