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The Canadian Press

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HALIFAX - The Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board has fined Halifax's casino operator a total of $75,000 for four violations, which included employing a dealer rejected by the province.

The board is critical of the Metropolitan Entertainment Group and its parent company, Great Canadian Gaming Corp., in the decision dated July 31.

The violation penalties were jointly recommended by the operator and the Labour Department's alcohol and gaming division.

In two instances, the board increased the fines for two of the violations.

The largest fine was $25,000 for the operator employing a part-time dealer whom the province had turned down for registration in June 2005. The recommended fine was $10,000.

All "gaming assistants" must be registered with the province, but can be turned down if there's reason to believe they might not follow the law or if they withhold certain information.

The board said the dealer in question worked at the casino from June 2005 to January 2007, but was absent for at least part of that time.

"It is difficult to understand how an individual who was refused registration as a gaming assistant could be employed at the Halifax Casino for any period of time, let alone the time frame noted above," the decision said.

The board said the registration process helps protect players from possible cheating by an employee.

It was also concerned that the operator and Great Canadian allowed two of the parent company's employees to audit the Halifax casino in October 2006, without registering with the alcohol and gaming division.

Not giving notice suggested a "lack of concern, or inadequate oversight," the board said. It increased the proposed fine to $15,000 from $5,000.

The other violations were allowing an unregistered employee of an unregistered gaming supplier to replace a slot machine bank sign, and having an unregistered employee of an unregistered supplier conduct employee training.

For those violations, the board agreed with the recommended penalties of $15,000 and $20,000 respectively.