Stores, casinos spotty in proper use of displays

At the Smith's grocery store on Charleston Boulevard near Rancho Drive, the new brochures on problem gambling are still bound by the rubber band they were shipped in.

In Ozzie's, a tavern at 5740 W. Charleston, the brochures are sitting behind the bar, noticeable only to a person who is a good squinter and happens to be sitting at that end of the tavern. To get a brochure, a patron must ask the bartender.

The problem-gambling brochures at the 7-Eleven at 3500 S. Rainbow Blvd. can be found at the back of a display rack, where they have been placed under a stack of brochures advertising United Coin Machine Co.'s Gamblers Bonus slot reward system.

Checks during the past few weeks showed problem-gambling brochures were nowhere to be found at any of the Dotty's mini-casinos; at Shooters, a bar at 1617 S. Decatur Blvd.; or at Russ' Food Mart in the Chevron gas station at Tropicana Avenue and Maryland Parkway.

Throughout Las Vegas, from gas stations to grocery stores to bars and casinos, a series of random visits by a Sun reporter over the past few weeks found wide differences in the way operators are complying with regulations passed last fall to address problem gambling.

According to the regulations, which went into effect Jan. 1, any establishment that offers gambling must post signs and written materials "concerning the nature and symptoms of problem gambling and the toll-free telephone number of the National Council on Problem Gambling or a similar entity." The signs and materials must be posted in "conspicuous places," the regulations state.

"We had to draft it widely" because there are such a wide variety of bar and store configurations, said Dennis Neilander, a member of the Nevada Gaming Control Board.

The board drafted the regulations, and they were passed into law by the Nevada Gaming Commission. The board is a full-time regulatory agency. The commission is a part-time civilian body that has final say over gaming regulations.

Though the rules allow different sign and brochure configurations, they are unequivocal in one way, Neilander said: Signs and brochures must be located "in conspicuous places."

In conversations with operators, board officials say the signs and brochures should be located on the bar, near the cash register or in some other place "where they're visible," Neilander said.

But the random visits show that while the materials are clearly visible in many stores and bars, they are anything but conspicuous in others.

Of 27 establishments surveyed, five did not have any signs or brochures. These included Dotty's, located at 9018 W. Sahara Ave., 1854 E. Charleston Blvd. and 2101 S. Decatur Blvd. Dotty's is a chain of 15-machine mini-casinos.

Tim Harris, a vice president of Dotty's, said the materials are on order and due to arrive soon.

Establishments can order brochures and display racks for brochures and signs from the Nevada Retail Gaming Association for $25.

Also lacking signs or brochures were Shooters bar and Russ' Food Mart. Shooters officials could not be reached for comment, although a bartender said the tavern would look into getting materials. And Russell Muir, owner of Russ' Food Mart, said his materials are on order.

Aside from the five retail locations that did not have the required materials, many that did have the materials did not put them in conspicuous places. For instance, the 7-Eleven on South Rainbow had a sign advertising the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling's toll-free HelpLine on the side of a slot machine facing patrons as they entered the door. But finding its brochures required some effort.

When asked, a clerk produced a single brochure from behind the counter. From outside, the backs of more brochures could be seen in a display case. Upon inspection, several problem-gambling brochures were found at the bottom of a stack of Gamblers Bonus brochures.

The clerk, who declined to be identified, was unaware of the brochures and could not say why they were buried under brochures promoting a gambling system.

In an AM/PM convenience store at the corner of Decatur and Oakey boulevards, a sign and stack of brochures were attached to the side of the last of five slot machines, facing away from the door. They could be seen only by someone returning to the cash register from the milk cooler, or by someone playing the last slot machine who happened to lean to the left to look at the side of the machine. It was unlikely that anyone playing one of the first four machines would be aware of their presence.

The store clerk, who declined to give her name, was not aware of the sign or brochures.

"They should have them where somebody can see them," she said.

At Ozzie's, the brochures sat in a rack behind the bar on the far right side of the tavern. If patrons spotted the display, they had to ask the bartender for a brochure. Ditto for the Albertson's grocery store at Sahara Avenue and Fort Apache Road, where the brochure display sat atop the change stand, back from the machines and from easy patron access. A customer would have to ask for assistance or stand on a stool to reach the display.

To be fair, many retail locations have done a good job of displaying their signs and brochures. The Texaco station at Sahara Avenue and Buffalo Drive had two sets of brochures and signs clearly visible atop its seven slot machines. And many grocery stores, including Smith's at Rancho and Charleston and at Sahara and Durango, were hanging their brochures in front of the change station where they were easy to see and reach.

At the Palace Station and Sahara hotel-casinos, brochures are displayed prominently at casino cages. Palace Station has installed signs carrying the toll-free HelpLine number throughout the casino and on the sides of cash machines.

Most machines operated by the Nevada Retail Gaming Association -- a trade group representing United Coin, Anchor Gaming, Jackpot Enterprises and ETT Inc., slot route operators who run 90 percent of the gaming machines in Nevada -- include a sticker with the toll-free HelpLine number.

However, even the stickers are sometimes hard to see. Because the stickers are clear, if they are placed on a colorfully "busy" part of the machine, they can be difficult to locate, let alone read.

Sean Higgins, president of the Retail Gaming Association, said conspicuous sign, brochure and sticker placement is not always an easy thing to sell to store owners.

"A program is only as good as whoever is there in the location," Higgins said.

In some cases, the association is sending replacement stickers to operators who reported that patrons had peeled them off, Higgins said.

Carol O'Hare, executive director of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling, said placement and accessibility of problem-gambling materials may be something that will have to be addressed by future regulations.

"Those are the kinds of things we may have to look at over time," O'Hare said. "I do think you're going to find that the program is most effective when the person can actually reach out and grab the brochure."

Neilander said the board will study and evaluate the way operators are complying with the existing regulations before deciding whether any new actions are warranted. For starters, the board will check operator compliance with the regulations as part of its regular audits of gaming licensees.

"This information is going to be part of our regular audit program," Neilander said.

The board audits most gaming establishments every three years. Problem or "high risk" licensees are audited every year, Neilander said.

It probably will be a while before the board gathers enough data to determine whether more action is needed, he said.

"It's going to take a while to compile that," Neilander said. "I think we want to get some experience with this before we open it back up."

If action is warranted, the first step probably would be a letter to all gaming establishments detailing the do's and don'ts of sign and brochure positioning, Neilander said. In the meantime, don't expect any board actions against operators who are waiting for their brochures to arrive in the mail. On the other hand, operators consciously ignoring the rules may be fined.

"We're going to try to take some time, though we would take immediate enforcement action if it's a bad-faith problem," Neilander said.

Both O'Hare and Higgins noted that a provision of the problem-gambling regulations requiring gaming employees to be trained about the HelpLine and the reasons for the brochures and signs does not go into effect until March 1. Once that happens, clerks and bartenders may begin taking the program more seriously, they said.

"I believe that by the time we see the training component implemented ... that may also influence the attitudes out there," O'Hare said.

"I think some of it will change," Higgins said.

Whether any of this will work is another question. Not a single clerk or bartender interviewed for this story recalled seeing a patron read a brochure. The problem-gambling signs are seen as an amusement, Ed Flores, a bartender at Chapala's Mexican Restaurant at 2101 S. Decatur Blvd., said.

To customers, "it's just like a joke," Flores said of the signs and brochures.

Linda Rose, a bartender at Skinny Dugans, 4127 W. Charleston, agreed that the customers who have noticed the signs see them as a joke. That's not to say people don't have gambling problems, she said.

"Very definitely some people have a problem, but I think there's a lot of hype there, too," Rose said.

"I feel like a crack dealer or something for some of these people," Flores agreed.

Other clerks and bartenders who asked not to be identified said brochures in their stores and bars remained largely untouched.

Higgins argued that problem gamblers themselves have to decide they need help. No number of signs will make a difference to those who do not believe they have a problem, Higgins said.

"If they aren't willing or don't want to get the help, they won't, no matter how many brochures you put out there," Higgins said.

The program's immediate goal is to get the HelpLine number out in front of as many people as possible, he said. Wider awareness and acceptance of problem gambling as a treatable disorder will come over time, Higgins said.

There are signs the materials are reaching people. O'Hare said calls to problem-gambling hotlines monitored by the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling have doubled since the regulations went into effect Jan. 1.

Last year, the hotlines averaged 70 to 80 calls per month, O'Hare said, for a total of 897 in all of 1998. In January alone, they received 200 calls. In the previous high month, November 1998, the hotlines received 142 calls. But O'Hare called that month an anomaly, noting that the number of calls dropped back to 102 in December.

"We definitely are seeing an increase in calls," O'Hare said. "We've always known that if you put it out there, you get an increase in response."

Most of the hotline callers say they got the number from a brochure or sign in a store or bar, O'Hare said.

"At least half of these calls, and possibly more, are related to the number being posted in a gaming area," O'Hare said.

And in at least one case, a hotline caller provided a possible reason Nevada Retail Gaming Association stickers have been peeled off machines: the caller wanted the hotline number so bad that he took the sticker, O'Hare said.

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