Thursday, Sept. 23, 2004 | 11:19 a.m.
A high-profile dispute will return to the Nevada Gaming Commission when it considers motions related to the state's complaint against the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and its controversial advertising campaigns.
Commissioners also on Friday will consider two nominations to the state's "black book" of persons excluded from the state's casinos
Although commission Chairman Peter Bernhard requested "friend of the court" briefs to help guide commissioners on community sentiment about advertising issues, Friday's meeting originally was planned as a time to set timelines for motions and responses for a full hearing on the issue in November.
But last month, the Hard Rock filed a motion with the commission to dismiss the state's original Jan. 21 complaint. In it, the resort cited First Amendment protections of commercial speech in presenting a satirical message about the property.
The Hard Rock's filing also said the messages were not obscene and that they could not be construed as "detrimental to gaming in Nevada."
In the state's response, filed earlier this month, the state attorney general's office argued that protected speech is related "to the advancement of truth, science, morality, government and the arts in general, the core values of the First Amendment," and that the Hard Rock's ad messages are unprotected "commercial speech."
The motion also says the board does not allege obscenity and that whether the ad is satirical or not is not significant to the issue.
Meanwhile, a representative of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada will be present at Friday's meeting, prepared to argue on behalf of the Hard Rock's position.
But Gary Peck, executive director of the Nevada ACLU, said he and general counsel Allen Lichtenstein don't expect to be heard Friday because the organization is raising issues related to the validity of the state's gaming regulations.
Specifically, Peck said state regulations related to advertising have no standards, guidelines or criteria as to how businesses should be treated in actions involving free speech.
"It's just the unfettered judgment of board members of what they like and what they don't like," Peck said in an interview Wednesday.
Although the Hard Rock matter is expected to garner much of the commission's attention, the nomination of two "black book" prospects also is on Friday's agenda.
Dennis Andrew Nikrasch, also known as Dennis McAndrew, who has served two prison terms for slot-cheating scams that totaled about $16 million, and Eugene Bulgarino, one of Nikrasch's associates who authorities said used a concealed hand-held computer to program slot machines to pay big jackpots, have been nominated for placement on the List of Excluded Persons.
There are 37 people on the list, each banned for life from entering Nevada's casinos.
The Gaming Control Board nominated the two men for inclusion on the list in June. By regulation, the state is required to allow for due process and set notifications on nominations. Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said Nikrasch and Bulgarino have not contacted Nevada authorities to contest their inclusion on the list.
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