As a local, I frequent a locals casino that usually holds drawings for cash prizes on the weekends. I suspect that these random drawings are not as random as they want you to believe. Are these drawings regulated in any way by the Gaming Commission or any other authority?
Promotional drawings aren't policed in advance or during by the Gaming Control Board. But afterwards, if you think something was amiss, the onus is on you to report your suspicions.
We contacted Karl Bennison, chief of the Enforcement Division of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, who told us, “We don’t review every promotional contest that the casinos put on, but we do handle complaints related to them.
“Basically, complaints come to us about the way a contest, drawing, or promotion is run or as a dispute where the person thinks they’re entitled to some money or won something that they didn’t get.
“Either way, we go and investigate. In a dispute, we’ll make a decision about whether they were entitled to a prize or not. It depends on the nature of what they’re complaining or disputing.
“If it’s about a promotion that’s being rigged or handled in an unfair manner, it could result in a reg violation against the casino. If it was just one employee of a licensee doing something off, then it would just be a letter saying, ‘We found this, please correct it, and let us know how you’ve corrected it.’ It just depends on what we find.
“If it was some big organized scam, [the penalty] could be a heavy fine. If it’s something that serious, then we might handle it in a criminal manner.
“Tell your reader to contact the Board if they have a specific complaint about a contest.”
In other words, you’ll have to have some concrete evidence. Vague suspicions will not suffice.
Which doesn’t mean that casinos, even the big boys, haven’t been caught with their thumb on the scales. The most infamous incident was a trio of rigged drawings at the Venetian in February 2002. A Mercedes Benz, a $20,000 gambling chip, and a $10,000 chip were awarded to high-value players, as predetermined by Venetian executives.
One of the three beneficiaries was a high roller who’d lost big. “In the rigged drawing for the car, an unnamed executive from the Venetian hid a ticket for a gambler preselected to win in his shirt sleeve, then pretended to select a ticket before naming the predetermined player as the winner,” reported the Las Vegas Sun.
The casino paid $1 million in fines and canned the two executives connected with the rigged drawings.
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That Don Guy
Jun-13-2017
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