Tribal Casino Runs Afoul of Regulators in Pennyslyvania

The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority (MTGA) is reeling this week after a pair of probes by Pennsylvania and internal gaming regulators left it suddenly without a CEO.
Early last week, MTGA CEO Bobby Soper resigned from the top stop in the tribe’s gaming bureaucracy to, “take on a new challenge.” Soper had been in that particular position since 2015 and had worked in the past as the head of the Mohegan Sun Pocono.
Though Soper didn’t say what that new challenge involved, it seems possible that explaining why the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board’s Office of Enforcement Control (OEC) is investigating, “financial irregularities,” at the casino could fill up a lot of his free time.
One probe is looking into irregularities into the casino’s, ““system of tracking and reporting the issuance of certain customer incentives such as free slot play,” according to a report on CalvinAyre.com.
What that means to the layman is pretty murky, but it was significant enough that the MTGA felt compelled to inform potential investors of it via a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The second investigation is potentially more troubling for Sopro because it involves an affiliate company in which he owns a 5 percent stake. ReferLocal has done business with the tribe since 2011 but recently had its contract cancelled and very quickly filed a lawsuit against the tribe.
Sopros had never disclosed his ownership share in the company, though he has said that he didn’t consider it to be, “a material issue.”
Both investigations are ongoing.