Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander was kind enough to ring up pesky old NGCB detractor S&G today and provide some clarification on why Crown Ltd. and its supremo, James Packer, passed muster in the Silver State but have run into heavy weather in Pennsylvania.
“When we first started … the Packer shares are held in a variety of trusts,” controlled by Packer himself, Neilander explained. NGCB representatives met with trust counsel and “pored through all of the trusts,” concluding that Packer was the controlling shareholder. “We have no concerns about it here. It was all disclosed to us.”
(A government source adds that trustees fear Keystone State confidentiality provisions are less airtight than Nevada ones and information provided to regulators would become public. Which is why three Crown Ltd. participants are suing — under aliases — for declaratory relief, in a Delaware court.)
As for a spate of recent developments, Neilander said that Gretel Packer (above) — who’s suddenly gotten cold feet about Pennsylvania licensure — didn’t reach the 10% ownership threshhold necessary to mandate Nevada scrutiny. “We did” have contact with gambler Harry Kanavos Kakavas, Neilander added, saying that at the time there was no indication that Kanavos had tapes of Crown executives allegedly making illegal overtures to him. (Pennsylvania has sent an investigator Down Under to hear the recording.) And with regard to bribery allegations connected to Melco Crown Entertainment‘s City of Dreams project, those arose late in the proceedings, the chairman said, and there was not enough evidence from which to reach a conclusion as to their validity.
Neilander added that the NGCB is monitoring both the Kanavos and Macanese situations for potential post-licensure action. But with Cannery Casino Resorts bosses William Paulos and William Wortman accusing the Packers of colluding to scuttle the sale, these questions may soon be extremely moot.
