WynnBET has agreed to pay $7,500 in fines to Michigan gaming regulators after the Las Vegas-based company realized bettors placed online wagers on events that had already concluded and the outcome was known. The wagers were placed more than a year ago.
One of the two events, according to documentation received from the Michigan Gaming Control Board, was the 2022 Firekeepers Casino 400, a NASCAR Cup Series race held at Michigan International Speedway.
The MGCB approved the Michigan sports betting operator’s acknowledgment of the violation at its meeting Tuesday. Board members did not discuss the matter or the fine amount at the meeting. The MGCB provided BetMichigan with records disclosing both Friday after a request.
The documentation showed that WynnBET self-reported the violations.
Seven Bets Taken On Known Outcomes
According to the MGCB report, WynnBET accepted four wagers on May 19, 2022, on a tennis match or an event within the match where the outcome was already known. The match is not identified, but a check of the schedule for that day showed 16 French Open qualifying matches and quarterfinal action in four tune-up tournaments for the tennis major.
Nearly three months later, on Aug. 7, 2022, the Michigan sportsbooks app operator took three bets on the NASCAR Cup series event held in Brooklyn, roughly 60 miles west of Detroit.
Michael Weaver, Wynn Resorts chief communications and brand officer, told BetMichigan on Friday that a data failure from a third-party provider caused the errors in the auto racing event.
"We recently deactivated live wagers on NASCAR races to ensure this doesn’t happen in the future; bets are still accepted in advance of NASCAR race starts," Weaver said.
Weaver said the tennis bets were a separate error from the NASCAR issue and resolved when discovered.
Jennifer Roberts, general counsel for Wynn, signed off on the acknowledgment on June 16. MGCB Executive Director Henry Williams signed it 13 days later.
Wynn was one of two gaming operators with violation acknowledgments accepted at Tuesday’s meeting. The board also approved a $5,000 fine for MGM Grand Detroit after regulators found the casino conducted more than $100,000 in business over a 12-month period with Niagara Bottling, which is neither licensed by the MGCB nor exempted from supplier licensing requirements.
WynnBET Staying In Michigan For Now
Details of the violations came a week after Wynn Resorts, the sportsbook’s parent company, announced it was pulling out of sports betting and iGaming in eight states. The Great Lakes State, where WynnBET offers both Michigan online casinos and sports wagering, was not among the affected states. However, its operations in Michigan and New York “remain under review,” according to the Aug. 11 release.
In a statement, Wynn Resorts CFO Julie Cameron-Doe said the company had “better uses” for its capital than trying to use it to acquire sports betting customers.
“While we believe in the long-term prospects of iGaming, the dearth of iGaming legislation and the presence of numerous other investment opportunities available to us around the globe have led us to the decision to curtail our capital investment in WynnBET to focus primarily on those states where we maintain a physical presence,” she added.
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