Vegas’ Palms Casino Resort has paid the Nevada gambling regulators $100,000 to settle a dispute dating from 2007.

In that year an independent operator, external to the casino, ran two poker events at The Palms which resulted in difficulties after the operator delayed the payouts from the tournaments. Worse still, one of the events was a charity tournament and it took four months to get the donation to the recipient charity. Both of the delayed payouts flouted the rules of the Gaming Committee, landing the operator and The Palms into trouble.

The main issue in this case, according the Gaming Committee, is to discourage less reputable operators being able to access customers via indirect routes. Especially at the expense of established, legitimate businesses, such as The Palms. Despite not running the events themselves, The Palms is still considered liable as the events were on their premises. The zero tolerance policy employed in this case serves to make other casinos wary of working with external partners. If their license is at risk then compliance with state gaming laws is likely to be taken more seriously.

Being of reputable standing, the Palms Casino Group did not wish to be associated with any activities of disrepute and on learning of the issue took action by paying the $100,000 fine when they heard of the issues facing the tournament winners.

George Maloof, owner of the casino maintains that despite paying the fine The Palms has conducted itself professionally throughout. With regard to the tournaments he added “We didn’t wait for the board’s resolution. We’re real proactive. From the moment we found out these people weren’t paid, we acted.” In addition The Palms not only settled the fine, but also paid out $450,000 in unpaid prize money that should have been paid by the United States Poker League that organised the tournament.

As yet the casino has not taken action against the external operators. Mr Maloof is currently considering the best course of action. If you want to ensure you’re a reputable rakeback affiliate, work with the largest network, rakebackpartners.