Friday, Dec. 7, 2012 | 1:16 p.m.
The owner of a bar where gaming agents reportedly witnessed patrons performing sex acts in public says she will be financially ruined if the Nevada Gaming Commission imposes harsh sanctions.
The State Gaming Control Board earlier this year filed a nine-count complaint against Judy R. Nelson, dba Las Vegas Eagle, a bar with a restricted gaming license allowing slot machines at 3430 E. Tropicana Avenue at Pecos Road.
The complaint, filed with the Nevada Gaming Commission, says that since July 2011 the board “has received numerous complaints regarding inappropriate activity” there and that agents found on Craigslist “sexually suggestive postings” for the bar featuring photos of genitalia.
Gaming and Clark County business licensing agents visited the bar and at various times through November 2011 and April of this year, and agents witnessed lewd activity, including a competition where five individuals bared their buttocks in public and other incidents in which patrons had sex in view of other customers, the complaint says.
Nelson, through attorney Robert Lueck, filed an answer to the complaint asking that if the commission determines the allegations are founded, her gaming license not be revoked. She asked that if any punishment is levied, it be a short probationary period and a small fine, if any.
The Clark County Business License Division imposed a six-month probation on her license in May, and there have not been any incidents since then.
The answer to the complaint said a substantial penalty by the Gaming Commission “would be financially ruinous” to Nelson and “would cause a loss of her only income outside of Social Security benefit.”
The commission has not set a date for a hearing on the complaint, which recommends a fine on each of the nine allegations and action against her gaming license.
In an previous interview, Nelson acknowledged there was some lewd activity at the bar during an April “underwear night” promotion and said she hadn’t approved of that conduct and was unaware of it until after the fact.
Since then, the answer to the complaint says, management changes have been made and security has been increased at certain times and events.
Nelson has “been licensed for more than 25 years in as many as six different bars in Las Vegas collectively totaling more than 80 years and has never had a Gaming Control Board problem until the current complaint,” the document says.
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