Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2004 | 11:26 a.m.
The Hard Rock hotel-casino and lawyers for the state Gaming Control Board are still negotiating toward a possible settlement of the board's Jan. 21 complaint involving the Hard Rock's advertising campaigns, after regulators' lawyers granted the Hard Rock a two-week extension as the two sides try to resolve their differences.
Hard Rock lawyer Jeff Silver asked Senior Deputy Attorney General Toni Cowan, the regulators' lawyer, for the extension, Cowan said. Silver could not be reached for comment.
The Las Vegas Hard Rock faces a fine of as much as $300,000 for the three-count complaint, which charged the boutique Paradise Road property with failing to live up to the terms of a 2002 settlement that resolved a complaint against the hotel-casino for allowing sexual activity to take place in a nightclub.
The 2002 settlement required Hard Rock compliance officers to review any "questionable elements" in the property's advertising, but the Gaming Control Board's January complaint charged the property with failing to use the compliance process to review any of a handful of ads, some of which the Control Board cited for using lawbreaking activity, others of which were cited for their sexually suggestive content.
The Hard Rock's response to the complaint was due Feb. 10, but was extended until Tuesday at Silver's request, Cowan said.
Silver said in January that the property intended to ask for a hearing to determine whether the property's ads violated state law, but Cowan said the two sides had made some progress toward a settlement in one face-to-face meeting and numerous phone discussions.
"We're at a point where we're seeing if there's a meeting of the minds on substantive issues," Cowan said.
The key questions, she suggested, revolve around the reference to illegal activities in a couple of ads cited in the complaint's first two counts. One billboard campaign featured a woman reclining on a gaming table next to the slogan, "There's always a temptation to cheat," which the board argued conveyed the message that cheating at gaming is acceptable at the Hard Rock.
A second radio spot implied that the possession of large quantities of prescription stimulants and having wives in two states was acceptable behavior for Hard Rock patrons, the board's complaint argued.
Hard Rock executives have said the ads were obviously intended to be humorous, intended for the property's hip, younger crowd, and said they were looking for additional guidance from regulators about what is and isn't kosher in casino advertising.
Cowan said the board members understand the humorous intent of the ads, but have a broader concern.
"The members of the board believe any reference to illegal activity in advertising is inappropriate (for a gaming licensee)," Cowan said Wednesday. "The satire or parody may be subtle and lost on some, but the illegal activity is clear."
If a settlement isn't reached, the Nevada Gaming Commission would consider the complaint in an administrative hearing, which could impose a fine of up to $100,000 on each of the three counts. The earliest the commission could hold such a hearing would be on March 18, in Las Vegas, but Cowan said regulators want to give the property a chance to settle.
"As long as we feel we're making progress, we'll allow the extensions," Cowan said.
Las Vegas Advisor Publisher Anthony Curtis said the Hard Rock's lawyers would be smart to accept a fine and fight another battle.
"I don't think it's that important to preserve the right to do these kinds of ads," Curtis said. "They just need to find another way, an acceptable way, to deliver their message. Settling rather than fighting it out (with regulators) is a business decision. Why waste large amounts of money and generate animosity with regulators?"
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