On August 6, 2021, the Office of the Ohio Inspector General received a complaint from the Ohio Lottery Commission (OLC) alleging that eight lottery investigators and a supervisor assigned to the JACK Thistledown Racino were submitting fraudulent time sheets for time not worked. The OLC investigations team serves as the primary regulatory presence at the racino, but is not employed by or involved in the daily operations of the facility. Investigators reviewed surveillance video recordings, swipe card reports, phone log records, time sheets, salary information, employee schedules, emails, personnel files and video review notes.
From this review, they discovered the OLC investigations team at Thistledown was forwarding OLC phone lines to their personal cellphone numbers to fraudulently obscure their hours not worked.
Investigators also learned the OLC investigations team had violated numerous policies including, but not limited to, time sheet accuracy, outside employment and improper email usage.
Investigators determined the time sheets awere falsified, resulting in nearly $30,000 paid in time and benefits for hours not worked. They also concluded that the
lack of appropriate supervision of the OLC investigators at Thistledown contributed to the repeated policy violations.
Upon learning of the problems at Thistledown, several remedial measures were instituted to proactively address the problem. The report contains 13 recommendations related to timekeeping, operational matters and supervision at the racinos.
The investigation report is being referred to the Cuyahoga County prosecuting attorney’s office and the Ohio Auditor of State for consideration.
