CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Lottery Commission handed down a $7,000 civil penalty on a sports gaming company Wednesday for contacting potential players by email who had previously self-excluded themselves from receiving the promotional information.
Gamewise, who operates mobile and online sports betting for Wheeling Island Casino owner Delaware North, self-reported the marketing mistake to the West Virginia Lottery in late August. Gamewise Team Leader Todd San Jule told the commission Wednesday those who received the email by mistake weren’t able to wager.
“We apologize to the Lottery,” he said. “We’ve put right measures in place to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
The commission decided to fine Gamewise $100 for each of the 70 who were contacted.
State Lottery Director John Myers told MetroNews Gamewise did self-report but it took the company a while to notice the problem.
“It was 45 days before they found out, so we kind of frown on that as well,” Myers said.
The Lottery Commission is allowed to fine companies up to $50,000 for code violations.
Myers said the law is in place for a reason.
“While it was a programming error–it wasn’t something they did intentionally–we need to show that West Virginia takes those types of things seriously. Because if people have a gaming problem we want to make sure they are protected,” Myers said.
San Jule said the violation was his company’s first.
“It’s a reputational hit,” he said. “We take responsibility.”
Racetrack casinos relicensing
The Lottery Commission also gave final approval Wednesday to the annual relicensing of the racetrack casinos at Charles Town, Chester, Wheeling and Nitro. Myers said the financial information for all four facilities is solid. He said they continue to face competition from other states for gambling dollars.
“It comes in cycles,” Myers said. “Last year was actually a good year but we’re running a little bit behind and sales are a little softer in the casinos and the LVLs (Limited Video Lottery locations) this (fiscal) year but our traditional sales are up.”
Overall lottery revenue for August was just short of $111 million including approximately $25 million in traditional sales and about $40 million each in Racetrack and Limited video lottery.
Powerball growing
The Powerball jackpot continued to grow ahead of Wednesday night’s drawing.
It was up to $850 million by Wednesday afternoon, the fourth highest jackpot in Powerball history.
Myers said the jackpots are growing larger more often due to adding an additional drawing a week.
“That’s starting to make these increase faster,” he said. “That third day a week drawing has really made a difference at how fast the jackpot grows.”
The next Lottery Commission meeting is set for Oct. 25 in Charleston.