Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2002 | 11:08 a.m.
Nevada gaming regulators hoped to begin determining today whether a software programmer who used his knowledge of a bingo system to cheat was acting alone.
The programmer -- who authorities say committed suicide Friday -- developed a flaw in software used in GameTech International Inc. electronic bingo equipment allowing him to play more games than he had paid for.
Reno-based GameTech is cooperating with the state Gaming Control Board in the investigation and regulators temporarily pulled more than 3,000 hand-held bingo card minders out of service Monday night to check them for flaws. The 3,000 portable units represent more than 90 percent of the company's electronic bingo unit base in Nevada.
Those units were placed back in service Tuesday, but investigators are still checking nearly 300 console units that are suspected of being used in the scam.
The devices are used in bingo parlors in several locals casinos operated by Station Casinos Inc. and Coast Casinos Inc. A GameTech spokeswoman said today the company has bingo systems in 16 Las Vegas-area casinos and 21 properties statewide. Other properties affected include Arizona Charlie's, the Castaways, Jerry's Nugget, the Palms, the Plaza, Triple Win and Terrible's. Bingo games in casinos in Reno, Pahrump and Mesquite also were affected.
Bingo play continued today and investigators stressed that the ball draw and the random number generators of the games were not affected by the cheating.
Harlan Braaten, president and chief operating officer of Coast, which has bingo halls at the Gold Coast and Sun Coast properties, said bingo play probably was disrupted, since many players who enjoy playing several cards at once did not have access to the card minders during the closure. He said he expects GameTech to move quickly to fix the flaw.
"For any company that operates computerized systems, there are some risks that one of their employees could do something to defeat the efforts of the company to service their customers," Braaten said. "I think this is an isolated incident and that GameTech will do what's necessary to safeguard their customers."
Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said today that agents are on a two-track investigation: They're trying to find the software glitch that enabled the suspect to play more games than he paid for and they're attempting to determine if the suspect was working by himself.
Neilander said the suspect was able to increase his odds of winning by playing more cards than other players. The glitch was inserted into the software after the systems left the manufacturer, he said.
The matter came to the Gaming Control Board's attention Thursday when agents were tipped of irregular bingo play in a Las Vegas casino, Neilander said. A licensee said "abnormal play" was spotted, but Neilander would not elaborate on what caught the tipster's attention.
Investigators observed play and planned to question the GameTech software engineer believed to be involved in the cheating. But the man took his life Friday. When agents couldn't quickly determine how widespread the problem was with the card minders, they decided to take them out of service on Monday.
Neither regulators nor the company have disclosed the name of the software engineer, but GameTech issued a statement Tuesday discussing his role in the matter.
"The employee was one of the developers of the company's software and one of only a very few individuals with the level of knowledge of the company's software to circumvent the many safeguards in the system," said Clarence Thiesen, GameTech's chief executive officer.
"By all accounts, he had been an exemplary employee, and we can only speculate regarding what caused him to do this. Unfortunately, we may never know, as he died Friday night of what authorities are indicating to the company involved an apparent suicide."
It hasn't been determined how much money the scam may have netted or how long it had been going on. Neilander said agents will examine play records to find those answers.
GameTech's stock, traded on the Nasdaq exchange, was listed at $3.86 today.
The company said GameTech's Nevada operations account for just under 6 percent of all the company's revenues. At the end of last year, the company had 7,000 fixed-based units and 50,000 hand-held units in operation at Indian, commercial and charitable bingo halls it supplies. The company does not expect other jurisdictions to be affected by the Nevada closures.
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