Gaming Board seeks to fine casinos

CARSON CITY -- Andrew Berg liked to play the ponies at the Fiesta casino in North Las Vegas.

Over a 10-month period ending in April this year, Berg made $5.4 million in pari-mutuel wagers and that's got the casino in trouble.

The state Gaming Control Board, in a 17-count complaint made public Wednesday, accused the Fiesta of fashioning a deal so Berg could make special bets to get a 10 percent rebate on his wagers. According to the complaint, Berg collected $575,225 on these bets in which he couldn't lose.

"In order to create the impression that Berg's chalk quinella wagers were public wagers, the Fiesta posted each race where the house quinella wagers would be allowed approximately five to 30 minutes before the race and allowed patrons to wager only up to $10 on each quinella," the complaint said. A quinella allows the bettor to pick the first and second place finishers in the race but not in any order.

The casino did not place any time or dollar limit on Berg. And the complaint said this behavior was an attempt to evade the law by offering to Berg wagers that were not posted and offered to other customers.

The board seeks a fine of up to $1.7 million for the alleged violations.

Another complaint, made public Wednesday, accuses the Rio Suite hotel-casino of permitting many minors to either play slot machines or loiter in the casino areas. It asks for up to $500,000 in fines.

Both the Fiesta and Rio have 20 days to answer the complaints and ask for a hearing to defend themselves against the allegations.

The complaint says the Fiesta promised Berg an 8 percent rebate on his daily bets and 10 percent if he wagered more than $300,000 a month. If the betting was less than $300,000, the rebate would be nine percent for the month.

The Fiesta created a separate house telephone account for Berg to make bets on specific quinella races. And he would receive twice the winnings a regular player would receive. He was allowed to make these wagers each month until his winnings totaled his promised rebate.

The law, according to the complaint filed by Deputy Attorney General Keith Kizer, prohibits refunds or rebates to those who wager on horse races.

In some of the months during the period, Berg bet more than $900,000 on the horses. And he contends the Fiesta still owes him $19,000 in rebates.

The complaint says the Fiesta allowed Brian Kaplan to phone in wagers on Berg's telephone wagering account, which is prohibited by regulations. Kaplan said at first he was being paid by Berg to make the wagers and later said he was a 10 percent partner. The law prohibits books from accepting wagers made in behalf of another person.

Berg was the only person who had an application on file with the Fiesta for a telephone wagering account. And the state rules say all telephone wagers must be tape recorded. In February this year, William Abernathy, the telephone account writer at the casino, dialed out on the phone line and accepted wagers that were not recorded, the board said.

The Fiesta is also accused of improperly adjusting its slot machine revenue reports. The casino apparently had numerous problems with the meter readings on some machines. And the employees failed to do a follow up investigation where there were variances of more than $200 between the actual drop in the machine and the meter reading.

"Thus the Fiesta's slot analysis report did not alert anyone that money put in the machine might be unaccounted for, and the Fiesta failed to investigate whether its bill-in meters were malfunctions, or whether someone was improperly taking money from its machine," the complaint said.

The Fiesta is also accused of allowing a major shareholder Michael J. Maloof Sr. to transfer his interest in the business in March 1995 to the Michael and Dee Maloof Family Limited Partnership without getting state permission.

In the Rio complaint, undercover agents saw the juveniles either playing or in the casino area in the early morning hours of July 18. A 20-year old man and a 20-year old woman were both playing the slot machines and juveniles ages 15, 16 and 18 were in the casino area -- which is against regulations.

A week before that, board agents observed "many individuals who appeared to be under the age of 21 playing and collecting winnings from slot machines and loitering in or about premises" where gaming was conducted.

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