MGCB Criticized by Michigan’s Auditor General

The Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) has been criticized by the state’s Office Of The Auditor General for failing to ensure that casino staff employed in Detroit are licensed to an acceptable level.
The Auditor General’s report covered a 19 month period starting from October 2013, with its aim being to assess “the sufficiency of regulatory and enforcement activities for charitable gaming and the three commercial casinos in Detroit”. The city has three casinos, and according to the report issued by the independent oversight arm of the Legislature, two of the city’s casinos employed 213 members of staff who were not licensed to a standard compliant with the state’s gaming rules. That represents around 9% of the two casinos’ 2,345 workforce, and amongst the recommendations it made is that the MGCB should update its internal controls, and ensure all compliance monitoring is completed in full.
While the MGCB acknowledging that 14% of its quarterly inspections were not completed, and that its compliance monitoring procedure needed improvement, the body did, however, reject the audits other findings. Dismissing the opinion that licensing staff to a level one standard would ultimately ensure more integrity at the casinos and greater public confidence in the gambling regulator, the MGCB subsequently stated that it:
“..feels there are minimal risks in ensuring that eligible, suitable and qualified individuals are selected to work in positions of authority at the commercial casinos by utilizing the current licensing processes.”
In the meantime, no recommendations were made concerning the state’s Indian tribal gaming establishments.
In 2015, Detroit three commercial casinos generated around $1.38 billion in gambling revenues, with MGM Grand leading the market with $582 million, followed by Motor City ($465), and Greektown ($330m). Their combined revenues represent 3.4% of the USA’s overall total, with Michigan lagging behind some of its neighboring states, including Ohio (4.1%), Indiana (5.3%) and Illinois (5.9%). Nevada is the country’s biggest casino market, accounting for 27.6% of all casino gambling revenues produced in the USA.