1
1 BEFORE THE MISSOURI GAMING COMMISSION
2 MEETING
3 AUGUST 12, 2003
4
5 BE IT REMEMBERED, that the above-entitled
6 hearing came on for hearing at the Courtyard by
7 Marriott of the Missouri Gaming Commission, 1500
8 Northeast Coronado, Blue Springs, State of Missouri,
9 on the 12th day of August 2003, commencing at 9:00
10 a.m. in the morning of that day, said meeting having
11 been called by members of the Missouri Gaming
12 Commission, pursuant to the issuance of due notice to
13 all parties in interest, and the following is a
14 transcript of the records of proceedings had during
15 the course of said meeting.
16
17 A P P E A R A N C E S:
18 Thad McCanse, Hearing Officer
19 Also Appearing:
20 Mr. Michael W. Bradley, Assist. Attorney General
21 Mr. Rick Wilhoit, Lieutenant
22 Mr. Michael Bushmann, General Counsel
23 Ms. Jenny L. Eastabrooks, Shorthand Reporter
24 of Cross Reporting Service
25
2
1 MR. CHAIRMAN: I believe we are ready
2 to start so I am going to start by calling roll.
3 MS. ANGIE FRANKS: Chairman
4 Bartch?
5 MR. CHAIRMAN: Here.
6 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner
7 Hinrichs?
8 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: Present.
9 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner
10 Gant?
11 COMMISSIONER GANT: Present.
12 MR. KEVIN MULLALLY: Good morning, Mr.
13 Chairman and Commissioners. Before we begin I
14 would like to thank Representative Gary Dusenberg
15 who made these arrangements for us. He's the
16 state representative from this area, formerly a
17 sergeant with the Highway Patrol who worked in the
18 gaming division, and currently a member of the
19 Joint Committee on Gaming and Wagering. And I
20 expect Representative Dusenberg may stop by at
21 some point during the meeting.
22 In addition, Representative Bob Johnson,
23 who is chairman of the Joint Committee on Gaming
24 and Wagering, wanted me to extend an invitation
25 to Commissioners and staff. They are going to be
3
1 touring two of the area casinos tomorrow morning
2 beginning at 10:30 at Isle of Capri. They are
3 going to tour that facility and I believe they are
4 going to eat lunch there then and go up and take a
5 tour of the Argosy Casino that's currently under
6 construction for their expansion, and he wanted me
7 to extend that invitation to anybody who would
8 like to join them.
9 The first item I have for your
10 consideration, Mr. Chairman, is the minutes of
11 the May 28, 2003 meeting under Tab A.
12 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: I would move to
13 approve those minutes.
14 COMMISSIONER GANT: Second.
15 MR. CHAIRMAN: Any discussion?
16 MS. FRANKS: Chairman
17 Bartch?
18 MR. CHAIRMAN: Agreed.
19 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner
20 Hinrichs?
21 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: Agreed.
22 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner
23 Gant?
24 COMMISSIONER GANT: Agreed.
25 MS. FRANKS: By your vote
4
1 you have adopted the minutes of the May 28, 2003
2 meeting.
3 MR. MULLALLY: Mr. Chairman, we have
4 four hearing officer recommendations for you today
5 under Tabs B through E and Hearing Officer Thad
6 McCanse is here to present those for your
7 consideration.
8 MR. THAD MCCANSE: Good morning, Mr. Chairman
9 and members of the Commission. I have been told
10 that I should be brief, but the cases that are
11 here today are somewhat interesting for the most
12 part, and one or two of them are fairly
13 complicated. The first one is James E. Dillie and
14 this involved a technician who left a pair of keys
15 in one of the electronic gaming devices, or better
16 known as slot machines, I think. He was doing
17 some work on the machine and just walked off and
18 left it, which he admitted was a mistake on his
19 part, was against the rules.
20 The Gaming Commission representative,
21 the highway patrolman and another person thought
22 they would try out the keys and see what they
23 would unlock. And they found out that they would
24 unlock an awful lot more than anyone ever realized
25 and could get into pretty much the heart of the
5
1 machine. It's what they consider a sensitive key
2 which has a routine for checking in and checking
3 out, signing in and signing out. The keys
4 themselves have been sent by the manufacturer
5 Bally as a shipping key where they lock the
6 machine so it doesn't come open accidently while
7 being shipped.
8 Normally such keys should have been --
9 or the lock should have been changed once they
10 were received, but in this case they were not.
11 The problem here was as far as the technician is
12 concerned, while it was a sensitive key, it had
13 not been designated as such by the casino. And
14 nobody seemed to know it was a sensitive key until
15 they found out what it would do. On the other
16 hand, the technician did realize that the key
17 would open the dollar changer to get to the cash
18 box on that device, which allowed some access to
19 some money in the machine.
20 It was carelessness on his part to leave
21 the key there. The Commission recommended an
22 eight-hour suspension. I decided somewhat
23 arbitrarily that a fine would make more sense than
24 an eight-hour suspension, so I recommended a $50
25 fine for his negligence in leaving the keys in the
6
1 machine. Does anyone have any questions on that?
2 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: It would seem
3 that the cost difference, the cost of the licensee
4 difference between an eight-hour suspension and
5 $50 is fairly --
6 MR. MCCANSE: I don't know what the rate
7 of pay is. He's been there nine years or had been
8 there nine years. And how much an hour he made I
9 don't know, so --
10 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: Is it fairly
11 close?
12 MR. MCCANSE: I was guessing it would be
13 close, but that is purely a guess. I don't have
14 any -- there wasn't any records on that.
15 COMMISSIONER GANT: I move that the
16 Recommendation of the Hearing Officer be adopted
17 or approved.
18 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: I will second.
19 MR. CHAIRMAN: Any discussion? Call
20 roll.
21 MS. FRANKS: Chairman
22 Bartch?
23 MR. CHAIRMAN: Approved.
24 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner
25 Hinrichs?
7
1 COMMISSIONER HINRICHS: Approved.
2 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner
3 Gant?
4 COMMISSIONER GANT: Approved.
5 MS. FRANKS: By your vote
6 you have adopted Resolution No. 03-062.
7 MR. MCCANSE: The next case is Alains
8 Bouzi and it was difficult and interesting. A lot
9 of it depends on the videotape, the dub of the
10 portion of the surveillance tape that was put in
11 evidence. And we watched it several times during
12 the hearing and then again I watched it at home
13 while preparing the report. I learned a lot about
14 the Caribbean. In fact, I'm not sure whether it's
15 Caribbean or Caribbean either, but I'll go along
16 with one or the other or perhaps both.