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05 March 2004
Venetian Hit With Heavy Fine For
Rigged Draw
Predetermining
that a losing gambler would win a Mercedes-Benz in a casino
draw and violating other state laws will cost the
Venetian
Hotel Casino $1m.
But following a 12-count Gaming Control Board complaint, its
reputation will be in tatters, despite the dismissals of
those involved.
The Venetian, the famed
Las Vegas hotel casino, has been forced to pay $1m
(£550m) for allegations of cheating in three raffles in
which it rewarded high rollers who had lost substantial sums
of money gambling with top prizes including a Mercedes-Benz
sports car and promotional casino chips worth $10,000
(£5,500) and $20,000 (£11,000). The casino agreed
to settle the charges after an investigation revealed that
the Chinese New Year celebration draws in February 2002 were
considered to be a sham.The investigation, brought following
complaints by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, found that in
the raffle for the car, an unnamed executive from The
Venetian hid a ticket for a gambler preselected to win in
his shirt sleeve. He then pretended to select a ticket
randomly before naming the predetermined player as the
winner. Similar charges were brought over the award of the
promotional chips. The first three strikes against the
casino involved the three alleged rigged contests, and the
fourth involved two property executives who knew about the
contest interference in advance and failed to stop
it.
Las Vegas Advisor
Publisher Anthony Curtis was horrified that anyone working
at a modern day casino would operate in this way."The fact
that they did it is terrible. To be fined a large amount for
rigging a contest is appropriate." David Friedman, assistant
to The Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson, said in a statement
that the hotel casino takes great pride in its regulatory
compliance record. It fully co-operated with investigators
and regretted the actions of 'certain rogue employees'. Four
Venetian employees were dismissed, including two senior
executives. "The settlement agreement shows that all
licensees must remain vigilant in their pursuit of a
zero-tolerance policy as it relates to any potential
violations of Nevada’s gaming regulations," the
statement noted. "The Venetian’s commitment to this
policy was clearly demonstrated in its responses to each
count of the complaint."
There were several further
aspects to the disgrace felt by the Strip-based operator
with eight further compaints by the Gaming board. The fifth
count involved a separate credit scheme,where gamblers were
granted more credit than is permitted by law, whilst counts
six and seven centred on cash transaction violations. Count
eight involved an employee who violated rules by placing
$40,000 in sports bets for a customer who left the employee
the chips and called from out-of-state to give instructions
for the bets. Count nine alleged that The Venetian failed to
account for promotional expenditure; count 10 charged the
property with improper voiding of markers. Counts 11 and 12
dealt with the property’s purchase of seven cases of
wine at $15,000 each. One count referring to the
property’s violation of Clark County liquor regulations
for not buying the wine from a licensed distributor, the
other dealt with property executives' failure to advise
those who had bought the wine that some of the bottles may
have been counterfeit. The settlement calls for The Venetian
to pay a $663,000 fine as well as $337,000 to cover the
Control Board’s investigation costs. A payment of $1m
will be made to the Nevada Gaming Commission at its March 18
meeting but despite the dismissals and the fine the squeaky
clean persona of this Las Vegas operator has been severely
soiled by these incredulous underhand dealings.
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