CHICAGO – The Illinois Gaming Board has fined an Aurora casino $800,000 for sending promotional materials to problem gamblers in violation of an agency program.

The penalty was assessed at a Monday board hearing against Hollywood Casino and three of its managers, who were suspended.

The agency said the business failed to omit the names of gamblers who had asked to be banned from all state casinos when it sent promotional materials to nearly 16,000 people in January. It says 146 of those who received the mailing are enrolled in the gaming board’s self-exclusion program, which allows problem gamblers to cut off their access to all casinos in the state.

Eric Schippers, vice president of public relations for Penn National Gaming, which owns Hollywood Casino, said the error was inadvertent and isolated. Penn National also owns Hollywood Slots at Bangor, a casino in Bangor, Maine, currently operating 475 slot machines. Penn National is building a larger facility in Bangor they hope will open in the coming weeks.

Penn National reported the problem to the Illinois Gaming Board and has taken steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again, Schippers said.

An anti-casino group in Maine said the fine in Illinois reveals a “dirty little secret” of the gambling industry.

“Just like tobacco companies are dependent on addicts for their revenue, casinos depend on gambling addicts for theirs,” said Dennis Bailey, executive director of Casinos No!