The Bear Growls: Harrah’s employees rigged a drawing; Missouri regulators did nothing
November 18, 2005
Apparently Missouri regulators have followed the lead of the “see-no-evil, hear-no-evil” casino puppets on the Nevada Gaming Control Board. From a news article in the Kansas City Star:
Johnson told the casino executives in the letter, “These games reflect directly on the integrity on gaming in Missouri.” He cautioned the casino executives to “exercise greater diligence in ensuring the integrity of your marketing promotional games” in the future, or face stricter commission supervision of promotional activity.
“Face stricter commission supervision” — not “heavy fines and/or loss of the privilege of doing business in the state” ???
Missouri gaming enforcement manager Les Hahn, in an Oct. 18 letter to Courtney, said the state’s investigation confirmed Courtney’s suspicions. Hahn wrote that there were “irregularities in the conduct of the giveaway game that did compromise the integrity of the promotion.”
“The winning pieces could be easily identified by gently squeezing them,” he wrote. “The non-winners had a piece of hard plastic inside the casing” that could be detected, according to Hahn, while the winning pieces had a small electronic circuit board inside with a different feel to them.
The underlined portion itself should be enough reason to severely punish whoever was responsible for this. Apparently Missouri “regulators” have taken lessons from Nevada’s worthless regulatory system. Shame on Harrah’s, and shame on the Missouri Gaming Commission.
