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BEFORE THE MISSOURI GAMING COMMISSION
5 STATE OF MISSOURI
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9 Meeting
March 28, 2007
10 10:00 a.m.
Central Office
11 3417 Knipp Drive
Jefferson City, Missouri
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BEFORE THE MISSOURI GAMING COMMISSION
3 STATE OF MISSOURI
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7 Meeting
March 28, 2007
8 10:00 a.m.
Central Office
9 3417 Knipp Drive
Jefferson City, Missouri
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COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT:
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Noel J. Shull, Chairman
16 Darryl T. Jones
Samuel J. Hais
17 Larry W. Plunkett, Sr.
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Reported by:
21 Patricia A. Stewart, RMR, RPR, CCR 401
Midwest Litigation Services
22 3432 West Truman Boulevard, Suite 207
Jefferson City, Missouri 65109
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1 AGENDA
2 PAGE
3 I. Call to Order
4 II. Minutes
A. February 21, 2007 4:2
5 B. February 29, 2007 4:22
6 III. Consideration of Relicensure of
Class A Licenses
7 C. Harrah's Maryland Heights, LLC 5:15
1. Resolution No. 07-016
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Motion to Suspend Rule 26:20
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IV. Consideration of Licensure of Level I/
10 Key Applicants
D. Resolution No. 07-017 28:11
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V. Consideration of Disciplinary Action
12 G. Ameristar Casino Kansas City, Inc. 30:8
1. DC-07-091
13 H. Ameristar Casino St. Charles, Inc. 32:22
1. DC-07-092
14 I. Ameristar Casino St. Charles, Inc. 36:9
1. DC-07-093
15 J. IOC-Boonville, Inc. 38:2
1. DC-07-094
16 K. IOC-Boonville, Inc. 39:15
1. DC-07-095
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VI. Caruthersville Update 41:17
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VII. Pinnacle Update 43:20
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VII. Public Comment - Eric Vickers 62:23
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1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 CHAIRMAN NOEL SHULL: The first agenda item that
3 will be in consideration is the February 21st, 2007
4 minutes.
5 Are there any suggested changes?
6 Is there a motion?
7 COMMISSIONER LARRY PLUNKETT: I make a motion to
8 approve.
9 COMMISSIONER DARRYL JONES: Second.
10 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Any further discussion?
11 Call the roll, please.
12 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
13 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approved.
14 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
15 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approved.
16 MS. FRANKS: Commission Hais.
17 COMMISSIONER SAMUEL HAIS: Approved.
18 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
19 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approved.
20 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted the
21 minutes of the February 21st, 2007 meeting.
22 CHAIRMAN SHULL: The second item will be
23 consideration of the February 27th, 2007 minutes.
24 Is there a motion?
25 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Move to approve the
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1 minutes, Mr. Chairman.
2 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Second.
3 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Any discussion?
4 Call the roll, please.
5 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
6 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approved.
7 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
8 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approved.
9 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
10 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approved.
11 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
12 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approved.
13 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted the
14 minutes of the February 27th, 2007 meeting.
15 CHAIRMAN SHULL: The next item is the
16 Consideration of Relicensure of Harrah's Maryland Heights.
17 I'll turn it over to you.
18 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, members of the
19 Commission, before we take up that item, I'd like to pay
20 tribute to someone who is retiring on Friday. Chris Baker
21 is here.
22 Chris, will you stand.
23 Let me say to you that this is a tremendous
24 career of public service. Chris Baker served with the
25 Jefferson City Police Department. I don't know for how
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1 long. He was 28 years with the Missouri Highway Patrol,
2 20 years in an important capacity with the National Guard.
3 He came to the Missouri Gaming Commission in
4 '01, and he's been a Gaming Enforcement Manager during
5 that time.
6 He's been important to us from the
7 standpoint that he's considered our resident Baptist,
8 which is a perspective that the Gaming Commission has to
9 have.
10 He's decided that he's had enough public
11 service, that he intends to do some fishing with his
12 grandchildren and some church work, and he's going to
13 retire after a long, distinguished career. And we just
14 want to pay tribute to him and applaud his public service.
15 (Applause.)
16 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Thank you very much, Chris,
17 and we certainly hope that you enjoy your time off.
18 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, Item III on the
19 agenda is Consideration of Relicensure of Class A
20 licenses, and Harrah's Maryland Heights will make a
21 presentation.
22 Arnold Block is the general manager.
23 MR. BLOCK: Mr. Chairman, members of the
24 Commission, Mr. McNary, members of the Missouri Gaming
25 Commission staff.
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1 At the February Commission meeting on
2 February 21st we were directed to provide a plan to better
3 control the consumption, abuse and related behavior in the
4 i-Bar and in the VooDoo Lounge, which would translate into
5 less intoxicated patrons on our property. We were also
6 asked to address our compliance plan regarding utilization
7 of the Minority Business Enterprises.
8 Subsequent to that Commission meeting we met
9 with Mr. McNary, his senior staff and members of the
10 Highway Patrol and presented a very aggressive draft plan
11 regarding liquor service, training and diversity.
12 Subsequent to that meeting we hand-delivered
13 a revised diversity plan to Mr. John Nathan. We have
14 since refined and updated our draft plan and are here to
15 present with Mr. Fred Keeton.
16 Fred Keeton is the Vice-President of
17 Harrah's Corporate of External Affairs. He is our Chief
18 Diversity Officer. He's been with Harrah's over 23 years
19 and works directly for and with the Chairman of our
20 company and leads our company-wide initiatives in this area.
21 I'd like to direct your attention to the
22 handout that we gave you regarding our summary of changes.
23 I'd like to go through this with you.
24 We critically evaluated the following
25 departments to determine their collective and individual
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1 effectiveness in mitigating patrons becoming intoxicated.
2 These departments were training, beverage
3 servers and bartenders, security, marketing, slot
4 operations, table games, total awards, valet and food
5 servers.
6 This evaluation was based on live
7 observations, personal knowledge and discussions with all
8 level of employees within the aforementioned departments.
9 We identified several procedures by
10 department that required strengthening. We have listed
11 those procedures in the following pages.
12 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Excuse our interruption.
13 We had an interim problem that needed to be responded to.
14 Thanks.
15 MR. BLOCK: Page 3 of our presentation
16 regarding training.
17 We have discontinued the CARE training
18 program, which was somewhat controversial. To properly
19 train our employees we have created a new training
20 curriculum titled Responsible Alcohol Service Program
21 (RASP).
22 This program effectively eliminates the
23 yellow zone as taught in the CARE program. Employees will
24 be tested annually in an effort to reinforce the
25 procedures and awareness.
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1 This training has been provided to all
2 beverage servers and bartenders, food servers, security
3 and surveillance personnel. The training involving these
4 departments should be completed by today.
5 Training has been provided to total rewards,
6 slots, table games and valet. The training involving
7 these departments will be completed by April 30th, 2007.
8 The following are the key areas that will be
9 addressed during this training: responsibilities and
10 liabilities, including a summary of the internal controls
11 related to intoxication, cannot gamble if intoxicated,
12 liquor service and floor sweeps, loss of personal gaming
13 license and/or loss of liquor license, civil penalties for
14 employees of a casino who are considered to have willfully
15 violated regulations, including termination.
16 Continuing with training.
17 Refresh the established procedures for
18 checking identification. The effects of alcohol,
19 including blood alcohol content; factors impacting
20 intoxication, which were body weight, medication, gender,
21 etc.; absorption rates, averaging one drink an hour
22 and food factors.
23 What is alcohol? The difference between
24 beer, wine and distilled products. The definition of one
25 drink. The glass sizes by outlets, by ounces, specialty
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1 drinks such as martinis, Long Island Ice Teas and our
2 policies by outlet.
3 Recognizing when a patron may be impaired.
4 That responsibility starts at the hello, signs of
5 intoxication, zone defense, which is go or no zone, and
6 our Code 6 procedures.
7 Certification and each employee will sign a
8 read and sign, attesting to taking and passing the RASP
9 course.
10 This is a copy that I brought with me to
11 show you the extent of the training course that we are in
12 the process of using with the RASP training. It's very,
13 very lengthy and very detailed.
14 Beverage service in the VooDoo and casino.
15 These are what we consider to be some of the more
16 aggressive changes we have made.
17 We have removed all distilled liquor from
18 the movable bars. The movable bars will only serve beer
19 or malt liquor equivalent. All employees must complete
20 and pass the RASP training program. All patrons
21 will only be allowed to purchase two drinks -- all patrons
22 will only be allowed to purchase two drinks at a time.
23 Absolutely no shots and doubles after
24 midnight on weekends and extended holidays. All drinks
25 must contain two to three ounces of mixer and served over
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1 ice. Increased Mardi Gras main bar pricing on weekends
2 and extended holidays.
3 All employees have signed a read and sign,
4 attesting that they have read and understand the
5 procedures.
6 Further, the read and sign will include
7 procedures for Code 6, which you can see on page 6 and 7.
8 These procedures apply to all guests regardless of their
9 tier level within our company.
10 Page 6 has the read and sign, and 7.
11 I draw your attention to page 8, security.
12 All employees must complete and pass the
13 RASP training program. We have created a detailed read
14 and sign related to Code 6 procedures on page 9. This
15 read and sign is taken directly from our internal
16 controls.
17 In an effort to identify intoxicated patrons
18 that are entering our property, we have posted a security
19 guard near our hotel entrance on Fridays and Saturdays.
20 Any intoxicated person coming from our garage will be
21 denied entry to the property.
22 We will continue our current staffing levels
23 within VooDoo, and we will continue to use the gauntlet
24 approach for entrance into the Island Casino from VooDoo.
25 Page 9 is our security read and sign.
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1 Page 10, marketing and signage improvements.
2 An example of the new sign that will be placed in front of
3 the casino can be found on page 11.
4 We have placed responsible drinking signs on
5 the Mardi Gras bar and the I-Bar. We have placed the
6 message in all of the hotel room directories reminding
7 patrons to drink responsibly. We have placed responsible
8 drinking reminders on menus in our restaurants.
9 When entertainers take breaks in the VooDoo,
10 we will play a message reminding patrons to drink
11 responsibly.
12 Page 11 shows you the signage in our
13 entrances and on our bars.
14 At this time I'd like to call Mr. Fred
15 Keeton to the podium to explain our diversity program.
16 MR. KEETON: Thank you, Arnie.
17 Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, it's my
18 pleasure to come today to talk about diversity inclusion
19 at Harrah's.
20 And for the record, I wanted you all to know
21 that Arnie had asked me to come because we wanted you to
22 know that at the very top levels of our organization, that
23 this is a major issue for us, it is important to us and we
24 are working in many, many ways to address issues like this
25 across our company in varied different ways, and
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1 understanding that jurisdiction by jurisdiction there are
2 opportunities for us.
3 One of the things that I also wanted to say
4 is that it's my pleasure to come before this Commission,
5 because out of all of the years that I've been with the
6 company and the many times that I've had to engage in
7 front of various commissions, this is my first opportunity
8 to come to Missouri, and I appreciate this opportunity.
9 We are committed to purchasing our goods and
10 services from a diversified pool of vendors and
11 contractors. We are committed to working with them to
12 develop their businesses, to grow their businesses, and
13 we're committed in terms of the opportunities that we
14 allow for businesses across the board where we operate.
15 And all of this has been keeping with
16 Harrah's code of commitment. And we talk about this
17 commitment quite often, and that commitment is to our
18 employees relative to their careers, to our customers
19 relative to our approach to marketing, and as already has
20 been talked to here, relatively to all kinds of issues in
21 terms of that relationship and to our communities, to make
22 them better places to live and work, and to that end
23 issues around diversity of suppliers and contracting is
24 critical for us.
25 I wanted to take a moment to tell you where
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1 we are with that and to kind of take you through where
2 we've gone.
3 There has been, as Arnie mentioned, a
4 meeting that's been held with Mr. Nathan of your staff,
5 wherein we went into detail with Mr. Nathan around our
6 efforts to address this issue, supplier diversity
7 specifically.
8 We are happy that we have made progress
9 since the last time we came before this group -- before
10 this Commission, rather, for licensing, the fact that we
11 have gone from 2 percent of our spending at the last
12 licensing up to 7 percent, which is about a 300 percent
13 increase.
14 The other fact is that we have about
15 70 disadvantaged business enterprises that we engage in
16 terms of our business at Harrah's St. Louis. So we wanted
17 to talk about that. That is an increasing number
18 obviously from the time before.
19 As we think about what we want to do, our
20 first issue was to expand our sourcing methodology. And I
21 think to a great extent what we wanted to do was to
22 increase our efforts at going into those areas where we
23 might find disadvantaged business enterprises, to make our
24 opportunities known to those.
25 And so I wanted to take you through what we
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1 are doing in order to make that work.
2 We are going to increase our participation
3 in terms of the numbers of organizations that support
4 minority and disadvantaged businesses. We're doing that
5 across the board through Wayne Smith, who heads up our
6 supplier area. He is going to engage organizations beyond
7 the Missouri Minority Business Council.
8 We're also going to work very much in terms
9 of identifying those lists, the universal lists. I think
10 there is now a unified list of certified women, minority
11 businesses for the Greater St. Louis Metro Area. And I
12 think that's a compilation of many agencies.
13 So we want to really pull into that list and
14 address issues of opportunities around pulling that
15 forward.
16 We are also really looking very closely at
17 second-tier opportunities, not only with respect to
18 national accounts but with respect to businesses --
19 business that we do at the local level around certain
20 other issues with medium to larger-size companies, where
21 there are opportunities to look very closely at that
22 business based on quality service and pricing availability
23 of women, minority and disadvantaged businesses there.
24 We are also beginning to spend a lot more
25 time from a mentoring perspective with those businesses in
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1 terms of positioning them to do business with us,
2 specifically around either sole contracts or the breaking
3 down of those contracts into smaller pieces, so that we
4 facilitate in a more expansive basis opportunities with
5 the universal folks that are available.
6 The other thing that we have done is we
7 think that a big part of this is really pushing what we
8 call diversity drivers, and those are activities -- and
9 I've mentioned several of them -- that really put you in a
10 position so that you engage in the universe out there of
11 available qualified service providers, businesses,
12 vendors, to really pull you into the mix with them in
13 terms of relationships.
14 Because we understand that it's the idea of
15 helping them understand who we are, the kind of business
16 that we do, the kinds of opportunities that we have and
17 then to spend necessary time to really engage them across
18 the board again in positioning for doing that business.
19 So when you think about how we would do
20 that, we really want to start to look at the number of
21 suppliers that we have in our database and we want to
22 increase that number of suppliers.
23 We are looking at the number of suppliers
24 who receive bids and the makeup of those bids and the
25 approach to those bids. We look at the number of
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1 suppliers who responded to those bids and then the number
2 who actually received the bids. We are looking at that
3 very closely.
4 It is being formalized now, has been
5 formalized, quite frankly, and we're moving forward with
6 it, and we are creating a summary of activities.
7 And we went through this with Mr. Nathan
8 with the summary of activities, so it is reportable
9 relative to who we are, what we've been doing, who those
10 vendors are in terms of our activities with them and the
11 approach that we're taking around PR communications,
12 letting people know, making opportunities available,
13 making folks aware of opportunities, and then really
14 addressing those issues around second tier, which, again,
15 is encouraging those folks with whom we do business that
16 are larger or medium-size businesses, to look for
17 opportunities for them to also engage around disadvantaged
18 business enterprises.
19 And to that end we also are creating an
20 independent approach to auditing those efforts and to
21 reviewing the results of those efforts.
22 And as a part of this audit and review, any
23 time you have drivers like these and activities like
24 these, you look at your baseline and you move forward from
25 that baseline. You also look to see if those activities
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1 are absolutely hitting the mark and producing results.
2 So as we do this, we will go across the
3 board and make sure that those activities produce the
4 results that are necessary. We think, and across the
5 board, that we will have an opportunity to impact going
6 forward where we are.
7 Again, we made success since our last
8 relicensing, and this opportunity gives us more activity
9 that's focused, more activity that pushes the needle and
10 more activities that make our opportunities available on a
11 wider swap.
12 Thank you.
13 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Thank you.
14 MR. MCNARY: Any questions of Arnold or
15 Fred?
16 COMMISSIONER JONES: Mr. Keeton, I guess
17 I'll jump in this thing first, since I kind of like
18 pushing the diversity issue a lot.
19 First of all, you said you had 70 MBE
20 vendors engaged right now?
21 MR. KEETON: That are doing -- that have
22 been doing business with us, not all of the time, but
23 there have been various projects where -- where we've
24 engaged those.
25 COMMISSIONER JONES: Because the big concern
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1 came when I read in the documentation the last time that
2 you had 308 vendors that you were using and only 6 of them
3 were minority or women. So that's how this all came to
4 pass.
5 Now, if you had 70, why didn't you try to --
6 but that's neither here nor there.
7 But I just had an issue with that. If you
8 had 70 --
9 MR. KEETON: I understand that.
10 COMMISSIONER JONES: -- and you're only
11 using 6 out of the 70, that just didn't make a lot of
12 sense to me.
13 On some of your policies, you know -- and I
14 just have one -- just asking this. And it's always an
15 issue -- and I understand the -- the senior management of
16 most corporations, they believe in the diversity issue.
17 They want to engage in it.
18 But it always -- there is always a problem
19 when it filters down and it hits that middle part of the
20 organization and then that's where it gets a bottleneck
21 and is not disseminated -- that same philosophy is not
22 disseminated below that middle. And that's where the
23 headache comes, and that's why it's so hard for women
24 and minority businesses to engage in some of these
25 activities.
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1 Like I said, I believe that the senior
2 management is doing the right thing. They want to do it.
3 I think it's in their heart and their best interest, you
4 know, economically, but it just -- when it gets to that --
5 when you try to -- when it's going down, when that
6 information is flowing downward, it hits that bottom
7 there.
8 So hopefully now that that information and
9 you're here, this is your first time here, now you can
10 start tracking and make sure that it's being disseminated
11 and it is being acted upon.
12 One of the questions I have, you have your
13 Tier I suppliers, and to me, why not -- instead of having
14 the Tier I's purchase from a Tier II or MWBE, why not have
15 those Tier I's -- and I'm just proposing this -- why not
16 have the Tier I's form joint ventures or strategic
17 alliances with some of these companies as opposed to being
18 just purchasing?
19 Because, then, again, you know, the Tier I's
20 can purchase 1 percent. But if they have a strategic
21 alliance and said, hey, look, you know, we want to make
22 sure that you guys are involved in here, and if we're
23 going to purchase $100,000 worth of goods for Harrah's, we
24 want you guys -- since we're partners on this, we want you
25 guys, you know, to be able to supply $20,000 or $25,000 of
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1 the product, instead of them having to buy it, where they
2 only may buy, like, $3,000.
3 So that's just one of the things I was
4 just -- you know, reading through your information. So
5 why not have this happen with some of the Tier I's?
6 And you know the Tier I's won't do it unless
7 there is a stick hanging over their head, unless the
8 client, Harrah's in this case, is saying, we want you to
9 do this. So Tier I's aren't going to jump on it.
10 MR. KEETON: Right. And in many, many
11 instances that's exactly right. Certain of the Tier 1's
12 that we have are, for lack of a better term, some of the
13 top 50 companies around diversity, Pepsi Cola and some of
14 the others.
15 So what we're doing now, to get to your
16 point -- and it's a very, very good point -- what we're
17 doing now is we're really formalizing the relationships
18 just as you've described, in a much more -- how shall I
19 say -- reasonable fashion to get to exactly what you're
20 talking about.
21 There are certain of them that do it as a
22 matter of course. There are others of them that don't.
23 But that is a very good point you make and we're working
24 toward that.
25 COMMISSIONER JONES: Are you going to do
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1 this tracking quarterly?
2 MR. KEETON: Yes, sir.
3 COMMISSIONER JONES: I like what you have in
4 here, you know, what you're going to track, but is there
5 any possible way -- as we start the program, is there any
6 possible way we can do something on a monthly basis before
7 we get to this quarterly, so we'll -- so we can have some
8 information and, you know, can you commit to having this
9 information probably 15 days after the close of the month?
10 MR. BLOCK: We definitely will do it
11 monthly. And that's the committee that I referred to in
12 last month's meeting that will be reviewing this.
13 We'll formalize it on a quarterly basis, but
14 we will be tracking it and furnishing and developing a
15 report on a monthly basis.
16 We've already developed a report. It's
17 already in place.
18 COMMISSIONER JONES: So the report will come
19 to the Commission on a monthly basis until we get to this
20 quarterly. Is that what you're saying?
21 Can we do that?
22 MR. BLOCK: It was intended to be internal
23 and then provide it to you on a quarterly basis, but we
24 can certainly do it more frequently because we have it
25 available, if that's your request.
23
1 COMMISSIONER JONES: Yes.
2 CHAIRMAN SHULL: I have a question regarding
3 the presentation that Mr. Block made.
4 This has been an issue for some time, and it
5 seems to have received the attention of management and the
6 plan is now in place.
7 I would also like to have a report monthly,
8 a written report monthly, about how this is progressing
9 and working.
10 And in addition to that, I have a question
11 about an alcohol violation that has been pending since
12 2004, and I think there were five cases involved in it.
13 And it was a fine that was levied, and I see that it's
14 still pending.
15 Can you comment about that?
16 MR. BLOCK: I believe that just surfaced
17 this week, and I believe our counsel has been discussing
18 that with the staff, if I'm not mistaken.
19 Fred, is that correct?
20 MR. KEETON: That's correct. Our legal
21 counsel has been meeting with them and trying to negotiate
22 a settlement for this payment, and it's just in the
23 process of negotiations.
24 CHAIRMAN SHULL: When do you anticipate that
25 that will be -- that's been hanging out for two years now,
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1 it appears --
2 MR. KEETON: It did --
3 CHAIRMAN SHULL: -- and follows this entire
4 problem that we're working on. I'd like to see it
5 resolved promptly.
6 MR. BLOCK: We will.
7 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there any issue about
8 providing these reports monthly so that we'll be able to
9 review them?
10 MR. BLOCK: No, sir.
11 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Can we also have staff that
12 is on site provide a report about what they believe is the
13 progress that is being made, Mr. McNary?
14 MR. MCNARY: Yes, sir. We intend to monitor
15 both programs on an ongoing basis, and we can provide a
16 monthly report for the Commission.
17 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Thank you very much.
18 And this is a public safety issue, we
19 believe, and we're very serious about seeing that it does
20 make some -- changes are made and progress is being achieved.
21 Are there other questions?
22 COMMISSIONER JONES: Just one more, and
23 probably Mr. Keeton.
24 One of the other organizations you may need
25 to want to interface with is MOKAN because they have a
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1 list of contractors that they're using that is inside
2 their organization. I know that you said you will use
3 the -- and I'm assuming that that's the St. Louis Minority
4 Business Council, but also MOKAN is another organization
5 that we need to start using because they have a list of
6 other contractors, in addition to services, because we can
7 also increase the diversity program by doing professional
8 services, accountants, attorneys and PR guys and media and
9 everything else.
10 MR. KEETON: Thank you, Commissioner.
11 If there are any other organizations in
12 terms of sourcing, we'll be happy to find out who they
13 are.
14 COMMISSIONER JONES: All right. Thank you.
15 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there other questions?
16 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, the Commission
17 was serious about the intoxication at Harrah's, as well as
18 their diversity program.
19 Staff believes that -- that Harrah's has
20 taken it seriously. They've been diligent in putting
21 plans together in both the areas.
22 As the Chairman has indicated, we believe
23 that there should be monthly reports by both Harrah's, as
24 well as staff, and we intend to monitor it, but at this
25 point we recommend that there be relicensure.
26
1 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there a motion?
2 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I would move to approve
3 the Class A relicensure.
4 COMMISSIONER JONES: Second.
5 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there any further
6 discussion?
7 Call the roll, please.
8 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
9 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approved.
10 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
11 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approved.
12 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
13 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approved.
14 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
15 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approved.
16 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
17 Resolution No. 07-016.
18 MR. BLOCK: Thank you.
19 MR. KEETON: Thank you.
20 MR. MCNARY: Take up the other matter.
21 Mr. Chairman, there needs to be some action
22 on 11 CSR 45-13.055.
23 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is that your proposed rule?
24 MR. MCNARY: Yes, sir.
25 CHAIRMAN SHULL: I believe we need to
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1 suspend the rule.
2 Is there a motion?
3 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I would move to suspend
4 the rule for the purpose of taking up these.
5 COMMISSIONER JONES: I second it.
6 CHAIRMAN SHULL: It's approved, a second.
7 Call the roll.
8 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
9 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approved.
10 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
11 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approved.
12 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
13 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approved.
14 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
15 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approved.
16 CHAIRMAN SHULL: I believe we also need to
17 approve the motion to withdraw it.
18 Is there someone that would make that
19 motion?
20 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I would move,
21 Mr. Chairman, to approve the motion to withdraw it.
22 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Second it.
23 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Any further discussion?
24 Call the roll.
25 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
28
1 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approved.
2 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
3 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approved.
4 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
5 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approved.
6 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
7 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approved.
8 MS. FRANK: By your vote you have withdrawn
9 the Proposed Amendment 11 CSR 45-13.055.
10 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Thank you.
11 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, the next item,
12 Item IV, is Consideration of Licensure of Level I/Key
13 Applicants.
14 Lieutenant Gary Moore will make a
15 presentation.
16 LIEUTENANT MOORE: Good morning.
17 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Good morning.
18 LIEUTENANT MOORE: Mr. Chairman and
19 Commissioners, the Highway Patrol and Gaming Commission
20 investigators conducted background investigations on the
21 following Key persons and Level I applicants.
22 The investigations included, but were not
23 limited to, criminal, financial and general character
24 inquiries.
25 Under Key persons we have Luther Cochrane,
29
1 Director, Ameristar Casinos, Las Vegas, Nevada. Under
2 Level I, Andrea F. Boggs, Controller, Isle of Capri,
3 Boonville; Gayle L. Ezell, Surveillance Director,
4 Ameristar Casino, St. Charles, Inc.; Francis P.
5 Ciuffetelli, Vice-President of Information System, Isle of
6 Capri Casinos, Inc. The last one is Robert D. Nye, Tables
7 Games Manager, Terrible's Mark Twain Casino, LaGrange.
8 The results of the investigations were
9 provided to the Gaming Commission staff for their review
10 and recommendation.
11 Thank you.
12 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, Staff has no
13 reason not to relicense these Key persons.
14 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there a motion?
15 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: I make a motion.
16 COMMISSIONER JONES: Second.
17 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there further
18 discussion?
19 Call the roll.
20 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
21 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approved.
22 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
23 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approved.
24 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
25 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approved.
30
1 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
2 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approved.
3 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
4 Resolution No. 07-017.
5 MR. MCNARY: Item V, Mr. Chairman, is
6 Consideration of Disciplinary Action.
7 General Counsel Chris Hinckley.
8 MR. HINCKLEY: Commissioners, Mr. Chairman,
9 I'd like to bring your attention to Tab G in your
10 notebooks, Disciplinary Complaint No. DC-07-091, and the
11 licensee in question in this case is Ameristar Casino
12 Kansas City.
13 And the violations in the -- in this case
14 are the maintenance of the electronic gaming devices in a
15 suitable condition, in particular, in this case devices
16 that had unapproved and revoked software.
17 In this case in October of '06, the 16th,
18 revoked software was discovered in 28 electronic game
19 devices at the Ameristar Casino Kansas City by their slot
20 supervisor.
21 On the 24th unapproved software was
22 discovered in 16 electronic gaming devices at Ameristar
23 Kansas City.
24 And in both cases the EGD's had been in play
25 for approximately two months, but there have been no
31
1 adverse results or incidents as a result of the
2 problematic software or unapproved software.
3 And as a result the staff would recommend
4 that the Commission propose in this case a $10,000 fine
5 for having this unapproved and revoked software on the
6 casino floor.
7 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there any discussion?
8 Any questions?
9 COMMISSIONER JONES: Was there a
10 notification? Because normally isn't there a notification
11 that goes out, you know, to the folks, some type of
12 software?
13 So I'm wondering, how did the software, the
14 unapproved software, get on the floor?
15 MR. HINCKLEY: Commissioner Jones, if my
16 answers don't satisfy you with the case -- in the case of
17 electronic gaming devices, I'll defer to our specialist.
18 But in this case, for your question, I believe I can
19 answer it.
20 It appears that Bally's had mailed -- in the
21 second case of the unapproved software, Bally's had
22 shipped unapproved software with the devices, and those --
23 without submitting the software for approval to be used
24 and tested for approval to be used. It was just installed
25 in its unapproved status into the machines and put into
32
1 use, most likely because it was shipped with the devices.
2 Regardless, it was unapproved.
3 MR. MCNARY: You have a recommendation
4 before you, Mr. Chairman. I think it was a 10,000 --
5 it's a $10,000 fine.
6 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there a motion?
7 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I move, Mr. Chairman,
8 that DC-07-091 be implemented and approved.
9 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: I'll second that.
10 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there further
11 discussion?
12 Call the roll.
13 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
14 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approved.
15 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
16 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approved.
17 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
18 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approved.
19 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
20 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approved.
21 By your vote you've adopted DC-07-091.
22 MR. HINCKLEY: The second matter is under
23 Tab H, and that is Disciplinary Complaint No. 07-092.
24 The licensee in question is Ameristar Casino St. Charles.
25 In this case -- this is a case of an
33
1 unlicensed patron participating in the gaming operations
2 in violation of the regulations and then a failure to
3 promptly and immediately report this violation to the
4 Gaming Commission.
5 More specifically, in July of 2006, the
6 27th, at approximately 1:30 a.m. a patron was allowed to
7 become the stickman on the craps game on the casino floor.
8 That assignment of the patron lasted for a half an hour,
9 during which the patron placed his own bets and then
10 returned to be the stickman for that game.
11 In fact, was even given an apron, an
12 employee apron, to denote his dual capacity as stickman
13 and patron.
14 That was discovered -- actually it was
15 approved by casino personnel and then it was not reported
16 until the next day, although at the time it occurred it
17 appeared that everyone knew it was a violation.
18 And in this matter the staff would recommend
19 that the Commission propose a $50,000 fine.
20 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions
21 regarding this disciplinary action?
22 COMMISSIONER JONES: Mr. Chairman, I'd like
23 to amend DC-07-092, to increase that amount to $100,000,
24 because I think this is -- Chris, what you're saying, not
25 only was he a stickman but he was also a player. Correct?
34
1 So he was pulling his own dice with the stick and
2 everything else?
3 MR. HINCKLEY: You know, I can't say that he
4 was the -- I can't say that he was the man up on the dice,
5 but he was distributing the dice to the person up on the
6 dice and then responding to his location to place his bets
7 and then coming back to fill his duties as the stickman.
8 COMMISSIONER JONES: An unlicensed stickman?
9 MR. HINCKLEY: Yes, an unlicensed stickman.
10 COMMISSIONER JONES: Okay.
11 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is that a motion?
12 COMMISSIONER JONES: That's a motion.
13 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Second.
14 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there further
15 discussion?
16 Would you like to speak, raising your hand?
17 MR. STREMMING: Yes. My question is, on
18 behalf of Ameristar, could we speak to -- now that we're
19 having this amendment to increase the fine or double the
20 fine, can we speak to the facts that are in question?
21 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, the procedure in
22 the past has been that this is the charge, actually, and
23 Ameristar has a lot of opportunities to speak after this
24 is over with. They go to a hearing officer and then it
25 comes back here.
35
1 So the procedure has been that they don't
2 have any kind of rebuttal at this point of the proceeding.
3 CHAIRMAN SHULL: All right. Is there any
4 further discussion, questions?
5 Call the roll.
6 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
7 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approved.
8 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
9 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approved.
10 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
11 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approved.
12 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
13 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approved.
14 MR. MCNARY: Was that on the motion?
15 MS. FRANKS: That was on the amendment.
16 Mr. Chairman, we need to adopt the
17 disciplinary action as amended.
18 COMMISSIONER JONES: I move to adopt
19 DC-07-092 with the amendment.
20 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I'll second it.
21 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there further
22 discussion?
23 Call the roll.
24 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
25 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approved.
36
1 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
2 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approved.
3 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
4 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approved.
5 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
6 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approved.
7 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
8 DC-07-092 as amended.
9 MR. HINCKLEY: The third matter before the
10 Commission is under Tab letter I, and that is Disciplinary
11 Complaint No. 07-093, and that has to do with Ameristar
12 Casino St. Charles.
13 And in this case the violations had to do
14 with a person under the age of 21 being admitted to the
15 casino floor.
16 More specifically, in August of 2007,
17 August 13th, an underage patron was discovered at the
18 turnstiles and was discovered to be in the possession of
19 an altered Missouri driver's license, characterized by the
20 investigating trooper as an obviously tampered with
21 driver's license.
22 Upon investigating the underage patron's
23 access to the casino, it was discovered that he'd been
24 into the casino 23 times and that approximately ten
25 security officers were determined to have allowed that
37
1 patron into the casino.
2 And he had been issued this player's card
3 with the false ID in April of 2006, I believe. Right.
4 I'm sorry. No. August of 2006 is when it was discovered.
5 So four month