Thursday, April 22, 2004 | 10:53 a.m.
The Hard Rock hotel-casino in Las Vegas agreed Wednesday to pay a $300,000 fine -- the maximum permitted by law -- to settle a state Gaming Control Board complaint over its edgy advertising campaigns.
The settlement addresses inferences of the Hard Rock condoning cheating at gambling and illegal drug use and not the sexual content of the advertisements that raised the ire of community activists who packed a Nevada Gaming Commission hearing in March.
The settlement also directed the Hard Rock to pay closer attention to an in-house compliance committee to review "questionable elements" in its promotional materials. By agreeing to the settlement, the Hard Rock waives its right to a public hearing on the complaint.
The five-page settlement document, signed by Kevin Kelley, chief executive officer of the Hard Rock, and representatives of the Gaming Control Board, said the Hard Rock's efforts to present a satirical message went too far.
"The Hard Rock had a subjective belief that the advertisement described ... was satirical in nature and never acted intentionally to promote or encourage cheating at gambling through that advertisement," the settlement said. "However, the Hard Rock now understands and agrees that as a gaming licensee, there are some subjects such as condoning cheating at gambling that are not suitable for its commercial expression."
The settlement document had a similar statement related to the promotion or encouragement of the abuse of drugs or any other illegal activity.
Kelley was not available for comment today.
The two ads addressed in the settlement were noted in the initial Gaming Control Board complaint, filed in January. One ad shows a man and a woman on a gaming table, surrounded by playing cards and poker chips, with the caption, "There's always a temptation to cheat."
The other ad reads, "At the Hard Rock Hotel, we believe in your Monday night rights: large quantities of prescription stimulants (and) having wives in two states ... Tell your wives you are going; if they are hot, bring them along."
The settlement's directive on the Hard Rock Compliance Committee is broad in scope, warning the company to be wary of producing ads that could be offensive, but it doesn't explicitly say that the company had to quit producing suggestive ads. It warned that the company -- not the compliance committee -- is ultimately responsible for public ad content.
" ... The role of the Hard Rock Compliance Committee is one of an advisory board that meets quarterly to develop compliance recommendations, while the Hard Rock management has the full responsibility for all of the Hard Rock in-house promotions and public advertising," the settlement says.
"The Hard Rock management had a subjective belief that the role of its compliance committee review of its compliance committee review of 'questionable elements' was only applicable to in-house promotions designed to prevent the reoccurence of inappropriate incidents on the property of the Hard Rock and not to its public advertising," the settlement says.
"The Hard Rock management agrees to consider the best practices recommendations of its compliance committee in conduct of both its in-house promotions and its public advertising, while reserving the ultimate conduct of both its in-house promotions and its public advertising, while reserving the ultimate decision-making and responsibility to comply with federal, state and local law to itself."
The original Gaming Control Board complaint cited two ads, in billboards and publications.
One, which appeared just prior to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, depicted a woman shown from the knees down with her underwear falling to her angles, with the text saying, "Get ready to buck all night."
The other, displayed last summer, showed a naked woman holding a pair of dice over her nipples, with the caption reading, "We sell used dice."
Senior Deputy Attorney General Antonia Cowan, who filed the original complaint on behalf of the Gaming Control Board, said the sexual content of the ads was not the primary issue, but the public raised the issue on those billboards and others around the city at the same time the complaint was filed.
Cowan said the original complaint was concerned with the Hard Rock's internal policing policies and the settlement addressed that issue.
Gaming Control Board member Bobby Siller did not sign off on the settlement, but said he was happy that the Hard Rock acknowledged wrong-doing and was assessed the maximum fine allowable.
Siller said his concern with the settlement is that he does not believe the Hard Rock did not know that it needed to take responsibility for its public advertising and not just in-house promotions.
"My concern is that the Hard Rock doesn't have an appreciation of the seriousness of the impact of this type of advertising on the community and there is more concern about maintaining a competitive edge," Siller said.
The sexual content of the Hard Rock ads and of those from other hotel-casinos brought dozens of protesters, many with their children in tow, to a Nevada Gaming Commission meeting in March. The commission, a five-member panel, writes the state's gaming regulations and has the ultimate authority over whether a company is disciplined.
The complaint against the Hard Rock served as a catalyst for the more than 200 people who jammed the hearing to ask that suggestive advertising be curtailed.
There are no other advertising complaints pending before the Gaming Control Board, officials said.
