An investigation by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB) into Valley Forge Casino Resort near King of Prussia, Pennsylvania has resulted in the property’s operator, Valley Forge Convention Center Partners, LP, receiving a $50,000 fine for reportedly dispersing excess amounts of free slot play.

Per PGCB regulation regarding free slot play, licensed facilities in the state are required to keep a record of employees who are authorized to issue complimentary services such as free play, in addition to limits on the total amount that are able to be authorized.

In 2015 and 2016, PGCB’s Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement found that free slot play totaling $411,000 had been made by employees who were unauthorized to do so. It also found that the casino resort located just outside the city of Philadelphia said that supervisors had approved many of the 557 transactions that were made but that they were recorded by employees that went beyond their scope of authorization.

The Inquirer reports that the casino communicated that 170 of the venue’s customers received the complimentary play in the over 500 transactions cited by the PGCB, and that the top 20 players received 80% of the money, indicating that they were repeat customers who played at a high volume.

The transactions reportedly amounted to less than 10% of the $5.2 million in complimentary slots play that were awarded by the casino during 2015 and 2016.

The casino’s lawyer, Michael D. Fabius, said, “We have absolute confidence that every one of these free-play transactions was issued to a real customer with a real business reason,” as reported by The Inquirer.

Also fined on Wednesday were three service providers including Nevada-based gaming manufacturer and distributor, American Gaming Systems; Nevada-based provider of slot machines to Pennsylvania casinos, Ditronics Financial Services; and New Jersey-based Certified Gaming Related Service Provider, In Bet Gaming, Inc., and that fines totaling more than $480,000 were approved for the four various violations, according to the PGCB.

Having opened on March 31, 2012, Valley Forge Casino Resort became the 11th casino to operate within Pennsylvania and the first in the state to be granted a Category 3 license by the PGCB. Built for $130 million, Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming Corporation (BYD:New York) agreed in December 2017 to purchase the Montgomery County venue for $280.5 million. The PGCB approved the acquisition in April this year.