April 25, 2021 – Encore Boston Harbor in Everett, Massachusetts.Photo credit: Moira McCarthy
A painful financial lesson was learned.
The move was taken by Encore Boston Harbor after the state Gaming Commission fined Everett Casino $40,000 last year for placing illegal bets on a Boston University women’s basketball game. .
That’s a hefty price to pay for seven bets worth a total of $213.
This is the second fine imposed on casinos for allowing lawsuits against women’s hoops in B.C.
The commission last year fined Encore $10,000 for bets placed on the Feb. 2 B.C. women’s game.
Monday’s fine relates to illegal bets Encore accepted on B.C. women’s basketball games on Feb. 12 and Feb. 19 of last year. The commission said in both cases, the prohibited bets were processed because the Encore vendor did not properly void all events for the B.C. women’s basketball team.
After a fact-finding hearing held last April, the Gaming Commission found that Encore Boston Harbor and its sportsbook violated state laws and regulations, and that “the business practices that gave rise to the violations met state policy objectives.” judged to be harmful. legal gambling laws.
When the Massachusetts Legislature legalized sports betting in August 2022, it specifically excluded wagering on most events involving Massachusetts colleges, except for in-state teams participating in tournaments involving at least four schools. did.
Whether to allow gambling in colleges is a major issue between the House and Senate, which passed a bill in the last Congress to ban gambling in all colleges. Excluding in-state schools was a key compromise that finally pushed the legalization bill over the finish line.
The commissioners added: “The Commission is looking forward to more operators and licensees.Finally, Encore’s first resolution to the non-compliance incident was to completely remove women’s college basketball from its offerings. Such a fix with a sledgehammer is not an ideal solution. Operators should try to identify the problem and fix it in a nuanced manner that fully understands the problem.”
At the time, Encore said a “sledgehammer approach” was the only option due to a glitch involving Encore’s technology partner GAN Sports’ systems.
This glitch allowed bets to be placed on two subsequent BC Women’s games.
As these casinos expand their sports betting offerings, the commissioners should have expected some difficulties from time to time.
The committee was also investigating similar violations of the state’s new gambling laws, including a mistake at MGM Springfield that placed Harvard University in Connecticut.
Learning curve or system glitch? These violations are likely a combination of both.
Please note that more than a year has passed since these violations and no other violations have surfaced.
ICU nurses seek ways to recover from drug addiction due to coronavirus
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, ICU nurses endured daily heartbreak and used readily available, extremely powerful painkillers to ease the pain.
Lowell resident Caroline Sheehan, 39, found herself in such a situation three years ago while working at a hospital in Burlington.
Fortunately for her and her unsuspecting patients and staff, these illegal activities were discovered before they caused permanent harm to her or anyone else.
She was found guilty of adulterating a prescription drug with intent to defraud and mislead for stealing the synthetic opioid fentanyl from an IV bag for personal use and replacing the drug with saline, the office said. He said he accepted the deal. Story by Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy.
The conviction carries a possible three-year prison sentence, but prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence that does not include any prison time.
Attorney Paul Schiller said Sheehan’s resilience was recognized in a lenient plea deal since his arrest nearly three years ago.
Levy’s office agreed to recommend a three-year suspended sentence for Sheehan, with the first six months of home detention, according to court documents.
Schiller said his client used stolen fentanyl to self-medicate to cope with the horrors he witnessed in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Sheehan has since completed drug treatment and is now living a clean and sober life, his lawyer said.
Shirell said Sheehan was on the front lines of the pandemic as an ICU nurse and witnessed the “horror show” firsthand. Schiller said nurses “worked long hours in dirty hazmat gear because of a lack of clean supplies, and held cellphones next to the ears of dying patients whose loved ones could not come to visit them.” “I was there,” he said. And I watched as more and more body bags filled the hallway. ”
The National Institutes of Health identified studies that reported high prevalence of anxiety and depressive symptoms among frontline nurses during the pandemic, which led to negative coping behaviors such as increased substance use. .
While we clearly do not condone her actions, we certainly understand the intolerable circumstances in which Caroline Sheehan committed an illegal and potentially dangerous act.
All this makes me especially proud of all the frontline hospital workers who remained emotionally and physically unfazed during this difficult ordeal.
