1
1
2
3
4 BEFORE THE MISSOURI GAMING COMMISSION
STATE OF MISSOURI
5
6
7
8
Meeting
9 December 3, 2008
9:00 a.m.
10 Central Office
3417 Knipp Drive
11 Jefferson City, Missouri
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1 AGENDA
page
2 I. Call to Order 7:2
3 II. Minutes
A. October 29, 2008 9:11
4
III. Brian Logan Recognition 7:7
5
IV. Consideration of Hearing Officer
6 Recommendations -- Katee Porter
B. Sharon Spencer-Drew
7 1. Resolution No. 08-107 10:13
C. Pamela S. King
8 1. Resolution No. 08-108 16:21
D. Tri L. Nguyen
9 1. Resolution No. 08-109 19:7
E. Rashad O. Jones
10 1. Resolution No. 08-110 21:3
F. Michael Rolf
11 1. Resolution No. 08-111 22:20
G. Anthony Goah
12 1. Resolution No. 08-112 24:4
H. Roy C. Hesterberg, Jr.
13 1. Resolution No. 08-113 25:12/36:21
I. Monica Garrett
14 1. Resolution No. 08-114 35:6
J. Billy Stewart
15 1. Resolution No. 08-124 42:14
16 V. Consideration of Disciplinary Action --
Chris Hinckley
17 K. Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc.
1. DC-08-807 44:18
18
VI. Consideration of Relicensure of
19 Certain Class B Licensees
L. Ameristar Casino Kansas City, Inc.
20 * Presentation by Applicant --
Chet Koch, GM and Jim Franke GM 48:1
21 * Presentation by City of
Kansas City -- Vincent Gauthier,
22 Executive Director of KC Port
Authority 74:3
23 * Public Comment
* Investigative Summary --
24 Sergeant Gary Davidson 83:14
* Staff Recommendation 87:23
25 * Resolution No. 08-115 88:1
3
1 AGENDA
PAGE
2
3 VI. Consideration of Relicensure of
Certain Class B Licensees (Cont'd)
4 M. Ameristar St. Charles, Inc.
* Presentation by Applicant --
5 Jim Franke, GM 48:1
* Presentation by City of
6 St. Charles -- Patti York,
Mayor 78:9
7 * Public Comment
* Investigative Summary --
8 Sergeant Gary Davidson 83:14
* Staff Recommendation 87:23
9 * Resolution No. 08-116 88:23
N. Pinnacle President Casino
10 * Presentation by Applicant --
Jerry Riffel and Jack Godfrey 90:2
11 * Presentation by City of
St. Louis -- Rodney Crim 98:5
12 * Public Comment 113:13
* Investigative Summary --
13 Sergeant Dave Leitman 114:17
* Staff Recommendation 116:1
14 * Resolution No. 08-117 116:4
L. Lumiere Place Casino
15 * Presentation by Applicant --
Todd George, Jack Godfrey and
16 Jerry Riffel 117:10
* Presentation by City of
17 St. Louis -- Rodney Crim
* Public Comment 129:19
18 * Investigative Summary --
Sergeant Steve Akridge 129:23
19 * Staff Recommendation 131:5
* Resolution No. 08-118
20
VII. Consideration of Relicensure of
21 Certain Suppliers -- Lt. Rex Scism 134:17
P. Atlantic City Coin & Slot
22 Service Company, Inc.
1. Resolution No. 08-119
23 Q. Western Money Systems
1. Resolution No. 08-120
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1 AGENDA (CONT'D)
PAGE
2
VIII. Consideration of Licensure of
3 Certain Supplier 137:6
R. Gaming Laboratories International,
4 Inc. -- Sgt. George Hamilton
1. Resolution No. 08-121
5 S. Atronic Americas, LLC --
Cpl. Jim Bennett
6 1. Resolution No. 08-122
7 Statement by James Maida 139:12
8 IX. Consideration of Licensure of Key Person
Business Entity 143:19
9 T. GTECH Corporation -- Cpl. Jim Bennett
1. Resolution No. 08-123
10 U. Lottomatica, S.p.A.
1. Resolution No. 08-124
11 V. DeAgostini, S.p.A.
1. Resolution No. 08-125
12 W. B & D Holdings, di Marco Drago
e C. s.a.p.a
13 1. Resolution No. 08-126
14 Statement by Luke Orchard 145:15
15 X. Consideration of Licensure of Certain
Level I/Key Applicants 147:13
16 X. Resolution No. 08-127 -- Lt. Rex Scism
17 XI. Delegation of Authority for Chairman --
Gene McNary 150:23
18 Y. Resolution No. 08-128
19 XII. Consideration of Relicensure of Bingo
Manufacturers and Suppliers
20 Z. Bingo Suppliers -- Cpl. Mike Finnegan
1. Resolution No. 08-001-B 152:1
21 AA. Bingo Manufacturers
1. Resolution No. 08-002-B 154:7
22
XIII. Consideration of Licensure of Bingo
23 Manufacturer
BB. Les Entreprises Carosielli, Inc.
24 d/b/a a Servi Jeux --
Cpl. Mike Finnegan
25 1. Resolution No. 08-003-B 155:13
5
1
AGENDA (CONT'D)
2 PAGE
3 XIV. Presentation by Pinnacle Entertainment,
Inc. on River City Casino Project --
4 Jerry Riffel 157:5
5 Statement by John Nathan 161:19
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6
1
2 BEFORE THE MISSOURI GAMING COMMISSION
STATE OF MISSOURI
3
4
5
6
Meeting
7 December 3, 2008
9:00 a.m.
8 Central Office
3417 Knipp Drive
9 Jefferson City, Missouri
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11
12
13
14 COMMISSION MEMBERS PRESENT:
15 Noel J. Shull, Chairman
Darryl T. Jones
16 Samuel J. Hais
Larry W. Plunkett, Sr.
17 Suzanne Bradley
18
19
20
21 Reported by:
Patricia A. Stewart, RMR, RPR, CCR 401
22 Midwest Litigation Services
3432 West Truman Boulevard, Suite 207
23 Jefferson City, Missouri 65109
(573) 636-7551
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25
7
1 P R O C E E D I N G S
2 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Good morning. If I could
3 have your attention, we'd like to go ahead and get
4 started.
5 First, Mr. McNary is going to make a
6 presentation.
7 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman and members of the
8 Commission, as you're aware, the Missouri Gaming
9 Commission is committed to ensuring that unsavory persons
10 and criminals are barred from casinos in the state of
11 Missouri.
12 To fulfill this mission, we have dusted off
13 the State's exclusion list and started to add names of
14 persons who should be excluded. Although the wording of
15 the statutes is clear, the process of discovering the
16 names, criminal charges, convictions and related
17 information is difficult and time consuming, to the point
18 that we've been constrained to delay enforcement efforts
19 until an efficient method of identifying these individuals
20 could be established.
21 Such obstacles did not hinder Corporal Brian
22 Logan whose work ethics and commitment to our mission was
23 exemplary.
24 He recently provided our Legal Department
25 with a list of all of the persons arrested for gambling
8
1 crimes in Missouri casinos since the inception of gambling
2 in our state. Moreover, he's working with our Legal
3 Department cross-checking the list against court records
4 to identify those convicted of felonies who should be
5 placed on the exclusion list.
6 His initiatives will ensure that convicted
7 gambling cheats and felons will forever be barred from
8 gambling in Missouri casinos.
9 We congratulate and commend Corporal Logan
10 for his distinguished service in ensuring the integrity of
11 commercial gaming in the state of Missouri.
12 I'd like for him to come forward and receive
13 this plaque.
14 You know, we've been talking about him for
15 two or three meetings, and finally here he is in the
16 flesh. And when we started, he was a trooper. Now he's a
17 corporal.
18 Congratulations. Job well done.
19 CORPORAL LOGAN: Thank you.
20 MR. MCNARY: Good going.
21 CHAIRMAN SHULL: All right.
22 Let's go ahead and proceed.
23 Call the roll, please.
24 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
25 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Present.
9
1 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
2 COMMISSIONER JONES: Present.
3 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
4 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Present.
5 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
6 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Present.
7 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
8 (No response.)
9 CHAIRMAN SHULL: She will be here
10 momentarily.
11 The first order is to go ahead and approve
12 the minutes of the last meeting.
13 Is there a motion?
14 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Mr. Chairman, I move to
15 approve the minutes of the previous meeting.
16 COMMISSIONER JONES: Second.
17 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there any further
18 discussion?
19 Hearing none, call the roll, please.
20 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
21 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
22 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
23 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
24 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
25 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
10
1 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
2 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
3 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted the
4 minutes of the October 29, 2008 meeting.
5 CHAIRMAN SHULL: The next order of business
6 will be handled by Mr. McNary on the consideration of
7 hearing officer recommendations.
8 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, Hearing Officer
9 Katee Porter is here and will present all of the items
10 under Agenda Item IV.
11 MS. PORTER: Good morning all.
12 CHAIRMAN/COMMISSIONERS: Good morning.
13 MS. PORTER: Okay. According to the agenda
14 we're going to start with the Sharon Spencer-Drew case
15 first. That's Case No. 07-175.
16 This case involved her responses to an
17 audit. She is the Regulatory Compliance Manager aboard
18 the Mardi Gras in Kansas City.
19 An audit by the Gaming Commission on
20 April 18th of 2006 revealed that four of fifteen KIOSK
21 redemption machines had one or more doors that failed to
22 detect or report the door opening to the alarm system.
23 That resulted in an error rate for the KIOSK of
24 26.6 percent.
25 That same audit also showed a problem that
11
1 revealed there were five of fifteen redemption KIOSK
2 machines that had tower lights that did not flash when
3 those machine doors were open. That resulted in an error
4 rate for the KIOSK of 33.3 percent.
5 The audit findings were sent to
6 Ms. Spencer-Drew on December 26th of '06, and she e-mailed
7 responses to those audit findings on January 10th of 2007,
8 wherein she replied that all KIOSKS had been checked to
9 ensure that the alarm system is properly functioning
10 whenever any doors are opened.
11 Door alarms will be checked on a biweekly
12 basis while preventative maintenance is being performed,
13 and all tower lights have been checked to ensure they're
14 properly functioning. Tower lights will be checked on a
15 biweekly basis while preventative maintenance is being
16 performed.
17 In preparing her responses, the evidence
18 showed that Ms. Spencer-Drew relied upon the answers of
19 the various department heads in preparing those responses.
20 She did not conduct any independent review to confirm the
21 information that she was provided by the department heads.
22 There was a followup audit conducted on
23 March 20th, 2007 which revealed that some of the same
24 problems existed, specifically, that two of the KIOSKS
25 still were not functioning properly and that the five
12
1 KIOSKS that had nonfunctioning tower lights were still not
2 functioning properly.
3 They also reviewed the maintenance entry
4 access log, and those did not show that the biweekly
5 testing had been performed as had been indicated in the
6 responses that such testing would be done.
7 The Gaming Commission sent a preliminary
8 order for discipline to Ms. Spencer-Drew which proposed a
9 penalty of three consecutive calendar days of her license.
10 Basically, in hearing the evidence of this
11 case, it's clear that she has at least some responsibility
12 for the material in her responses. She did not do any
13 followup to make sure that her responses actually were
14 accurate, and I feel that that is a problem that needs to
15 be addressed, and I think that she has at least some
16 responsibility to confirm the accuracy of the information
17 that she provides to the Gaming Commission.
18 There was not any evidence that anyone else
19 either down beneath her, the department heads underneath
20 her, or anyone above her was disciplined regarding this
21 particular situation, and I feel that she is at least
22 partially to blame, but there probably were other people
23 up and down the line that should also have been
24 investigated and taken some responsibility for this.
25 Because it didn't appear that it was solely
13
1 her responsibility, I felt that the proposed punishment
2 was actually a little bit harsh, and I actually
3 recommended she be reprimanded for this particular
4 incident and basically place her on notice that she needs
5 to take more responsibility in confirming anything that
6 she actually sends to the Gaming Commission in her audit
7 responses.
8 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions for
9 Ms. Porter?
10 (Commissioner Bradley enters the room.)
11 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is Sharon Spencer-Drew here
12 and would she care to speak?
13 MS. SPENCER-DREW: Thank you, Commissioners.
14 I appreciate the time.
15 In doing my job, I take my job very
16 seriously, and I truly believe the action that I took in
17 preparing the audit responses were correct.
18 I relied very strongly on the department
19 heads that run the department that are responsible for
20 performing the functions to provide the feedback to me,
21 that I then consolidate and prepare the audit responses.
22 I had multiple conversations with the casino
23 controller who was the department head that was
24 responsible for the KIOSK working and had no indication
25 that the corrected measures had not been taken.
14
1 Further investigation after the second
2 audit, in digging into it deeper, there was some definite
3 flaws that had been identified in the process that they
4 were doing, but nothing was -- I don't feel there was
5 negligence on my part in my responsibility preparing the
6 audit responses.
7 I do request on the Commission's behalf that
8 I feel I did my job properly and to the fullest extent for
9 preparing audit responses, and I would request that this
10 be dismissed.
11 Alternately, the language that the hearing
12 officer has proposed has the word "grossly negligent" in
13 it, and I don't care for that. I don't feel I was grossly
14 negligent. And I would request if you do decide to uphold
15 the recommendation of the hearing officer, that that
16 language be changed, please.
17 CHAIRMAN SHULL: What is your policy now?
18 Are you confirming that action has been
19 taken on the recommendation -- or the violations?
20 MS. SPENCER-DREW: When we do audit
21 followups with a department, I go to the department heads
22 and ask them for documentation of what they have done.
23 Based upon our initial responses that we had
24 prepared, we stated that they would conduct the alarm
25 testing when they did the preventative maintenance.
15
1 The technician had been in the units doing
2 preventative maintenance. There just was not clear
3 language that stated I'm conducting preventative
4 maintenance or I'm conducting alarm testing.
5 Again, what we later learned was that there
6 were flaws in their testing mechanisms and there were some
7 processes that we definitely had to change.
8 What I have learned from this point -- or
9 from this situation is I have to dig a little deeper to
10 protect the company, protect the Gaming Commission and
11 protect our assets.
12 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there other questions?
13 Thank you.
14 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Mr. Chairman, if I may.
15 The resolution then before us is 08-107,
16 which is your recommendation. Correct?
17 MS. PORTER: That is correct. That is my
18 recommendation.
19 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I would move the
20 adoption of Resolution 08-107.
21 COMMISSIONER JONES: Second.
22 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
23 seconded.
24 Is there further discussion?
25 Hearing none, call the roll, please.
16
1 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
2 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
3 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
4 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
5 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
6 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
7 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
8 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
9 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
10 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
11 And may I say on the record, No. 1, I
12 apologize. I'm a few minutes late. But, No. 2, so I
13 wouldn't be disruptive I stood in the hallway.
14 I did want Sharon to understand that I did
15 hear the remarks of Mrs. Porter and I had reviewed
16 everything. So as I vote to approve this, it's based on the
17 information that I have read and that I have heard.
18 Thank you.
19 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
20 Resolution No. 08-107.
21 MS. PORTER: The second case is Pamela S.
22 King. It's Case No. 07-224.
23 Ms. King was a holder of a Level II
24 occupational license for employment as a dealer on the
25 Mardi Gras.
17
1 This particular case involves failing to
2 disclose an arrest for misdemeanor stealing while she was
3 currently a holder of a license.
4 During her employment she was arrested at a
5 Wal-Mart store. She had taken -- paid for some items, had
6 taken some items outside, supposedly was waiting for her
7 mother to come pay for the rest of them.
8 She presented evidence that she had
9 supposedly gotten permission to go past the last point of
10 exit to pay for the items from a greeter, which the police
11 officer could not find. So he went ahead and wrote her a
12 ticket for stealing $163.75 worth of merchandise from
13 Wal-Mart.
14 There are inconsistencies in the testimony
15 that she provided regarding the dates and whether or not
16 she actually disclosed this arrest to the Gaming
17 Commission.
18 I've outlined the inconsistencies in the
19 report, basically that the dates didn't match up, and I
20 felt that she had actually came with a document to the
21 hearing that I felt wasn't the original document that she
22 may or may not have submitted to her employment there on
23 the boat.
24 I didn't feel that her testimony was
25 credible that she actually did, in fact, report this
18
1 arrest. There was nothing in the file, no document in her
2 employment file, that showed where she had actually
3 reported this.
4 Based on the fact that she didn't report and
5 the fact that it was actually a stealing charge, I do
6 agree with the Gaming Commission's recommendation that her
7 license be revoked.
8 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions for
9 Ms. Porter?
10 Is Pamela King here and would she care to
11 speak?
12 Is there a motion?
13 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: I make a motion we
14 adopt Resolution 08-108.
15 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Second.
16 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
17 seconded.
18 Is there further discussion?
19 Hearing none, call the roll, please.
20 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
21 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
22 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
23 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
24 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
25 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
19
1 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
2 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
3 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
4 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
5 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
6 Resolution No. 08-108.
7 MS. PORTER: The third case is Tri Nguyen.
8 It's N-g-u-y-e-n. It's Case No. 08-144.
9 Mr. Nguyen is a holder of a Level II gaming
10 license. He actually had placed himself on the
11 Disassociated Persons List and then he was caught
12 trespassing at Harrah's North Kansas City after placing
13 himself on the DAP list.
14 He was actually on the gaming floor at a
15 mini baccarat table. One of the employees that goes
16 around and asks if she can rank people asked for his ID.
17 He actually presented someone else's license. It didn't
18 have his picture. One of the other employees recognized
19 him as he had been a former employee of that particular
20 casino.
21 They checked the DAP list and did confirm
22 that the person that was on the gaming floor was actually
23 Mr. Nguyen. He was not supposed to be there, and he had
24 actually presented false identification. He was issued a
25 citation for misdemeanor trespassing.
20
1 The Gaming Commission's recommendation was
2 that his license be revoked, and I do agree with that
3 recommendation.
4 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions for
5 Ms. Porter?
6 Is Mr. Nguyen here and would he care to
7 speak?
8 Is there a motion?
9 COMMISSIONER JONES: I move for the adoption
10 of Resolution 08-109.
11 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Second.
12 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
13 seconded.
14 Is there further discussion?
15 Hearing none, call the roll, please.
16 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
17 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
18 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
19 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
20 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
21 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
22 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
23 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
24 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
25 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
21
1 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
2 Resolution 08-109.
3 MS. PORTER: The next case is Rashad O.
4 Jones, Case No. 08-500.
5 Mr. Jones applied for a Level II license.
6 He failed to disclose the fact that he actually had been
7 arrested. He had an arrest on February 15th of 2007 by
8 the Kansas City Police Department for a felony charge of
9 tampering with a motor vehicle. There was also a second
10 arrest on June 3rd of 2007 for a DWI alcohol.
11 When Mr. Jones was reinterviewed and these
12 arrests were brought to his attention, he initially denied
13 knowing about them and then he later recalled a few
14 details which he relayed to the investigator.
15 As for the DWI arrest, Mr. Jones said he
16 didn't think he had to list that on the application
17 because the charges were still pending.
18 The Gaming Commission's recommendation is
19 denying a license to Mr. Jones, and based on the facts, I
20 agree with that recommendation.
21 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions for
22 Ms. Porter?
23 Is Mr. Jones here and would he care to
24 speak?
25 Is there a motion?
22
1 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I move the adoption of
2 Commission Resolution 08-110.
3 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Second.
4 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
5 seconded.
6 Is there further discussion?
7 Hearing none, call the roll, please.
8 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
9 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
10 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
11 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
12 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
13 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
14 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
15 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
16 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
17 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
18 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
19 Resolution No. 08-110.
20 MS. PORTER: The next case is Michael Rolf,
21 08-509. Mr. Rolf applied for a Level II license. His
22 application was denied because he failed to disclose
23 felony convictions. He failed to disclose five felony
24 convictions, two felony counts of possession of a
25 controlled substance in 1990, three counts of felony
23
1 distributing, dealing and manufacturing of a controlled
2 substance in 1999.
3 The Gaming Commission recommended denial of
4 the license to Mr. Rolf, and I agree with that
5 recommendation.
6 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there questions for
7 Ms. Porter?
8 Is Mr. Rolf here and would he care to speak?
9 Is there a motion?
10 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Motion to approve
11 Commission Resolution No. 08-111.
12 COMMISSIONER JONES: Second.
13 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
14 seconded.
15 Is there further discussion?
16 Hearing none, call the roll, please.
17 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
18 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
19 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
20 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
21 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
22 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
23 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
24 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
25 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
24
1 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
2 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
3 Resolution No. 08-111.
4 MS. PORTER: The next case is Anthony Goah,
5 G-o-a-h, Case No. 08-510.
6 Mr. Goah applied for a Level II license. He
7 failed to disclose a disqualifying misdemeanor stealing
8 conviction and three arrests which resulted in six
9 charges. The misdemeanor stealing conviction was
10 originally a felony forgery charge.
11 Mr. Goah failed to disclose any of these on
12 his application, and the Gaming Commission recommended
13 denial of his license. I concur with that recommendation.
14 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions for
15 Ms. Porter?
16 Is Mr. Goah here and would he care to speak?
17 Is there a motion?
18 COMMISSIONER JONES: I move for adoption of
19 Resolution No. 08-112.
20 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Second.
21 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
22 seconded.
23 Is there further discussion?
24 Call the roll, please.
25 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
25
1 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
2 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
3 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
4 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
5 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
6 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
7 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
8 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
9 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
10 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
11 Resolution No. 08-112.
12 MS. PORTER: The next case is Roy Clifford
13 Hesterberg, Jr., Case No. 08-513.
14 Mr. Hesterberg applied for a Level II
15 license. On his application to Question 14A, which
16 requires applicants to list all arrests, he listed an
17 arrest for carrying a concealed weapon issued out of
18 Warrenton, Missouri in 1991 or 1993. He wasn't sure which
19 at the time.
20 He stated that he received a suspended
21 imposition of sentence with probation regarding that
22 particular charge.
23 The investigator obtained court records
24 regarding that incident, which actually occurred on
25 April 7th of 1993, where Mr. Hesterberg pled guilty to a
26
1 felony charge of unlawful use of a weapon.
2 He did, in fact, receive the imposition of
3 sentence, with a term of probation for five years. He was
4 granted early discharge from probation after only one
5 year.
6 There was no evidence presented that
7 Mr. Hesterberg had been in any trouble since the 1993
8 incident.
9 This is a little different recommendation
10 coming from the hearing officer probably.
11 There was some question on Statute
12 Section 313.812.8 that revolved around the definition of
13 nongaming-related occupations.
14 Mr. Hesterberg applied as a security
15 officer/an EMT, and there wasn't any clear evidence as to
16 whether or not that was a technical nongaming-related
17 occupation which would be an exemption or at least would
18 allow the Commission to actually make an exception and go
19 ahead and grant Mr. Hesterberg a license.
20 So instead of outright making the decision,
21 I felt that the Commission should be made aware of this
22 particular section and have some discussion on whether or
23 not they believed a security officer/an EMT position is
24 actually a nongaming-related occupation, which could then
25 give you the discretion to allow Mr. Hesterberg to go
27
1 ahead and be given a license despite his arrest and
2 conviction.
3 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions for
4 Ms. Porter?
5 COMMISSIONER JONES: Ms. Porter, explain to
6 me, I guess -- or give me an example of a nongaming
7 position.
8 MS. PORTER: In some of the casino
9 locations, they actually have bars where they're not on
10 the gaming floors. So if someone came and had a drink at
11 that bar, they aren't on the gaming floor, wouldn't have
12 had to go through the gaming floor to come to that place.
13 So perhaps the bartenders or waitresses in
14 that location wouldn't actually have to have, like, a
15 Level II license or a license at all as far as the Gaming
16 Commission is concerned.
17 COMMISSIONER JONES: So am I to understand
18 that anyone that is on the gaming floor -- and I think
19 this is -- anyone that's on the gaming floor is considered
20 a gaming -- has to have a gaming license if you're on that
21 gaming floor? If you have to go on the gaming floor, you
22 have to have a license?
23 MS. PORTER: I think that's probably a fair
24 interpretation.
25 Basically there is one of the CSRs,
28
1 11 CSR 45-4.400, Subsection 3 -- or Section 3,
2 Subsection A, talks about Occupational License Level II
3 includes any of the following positions that are not
4 required to hold an Occupational License Level I.
5 And Subsection A defines that as any
6 position within a Missouri riverboat gaming operation that
7 would require the holder to have access to the excursion
8 gambling boat to perform his or her function or duties.
9 So theoretically you could argue that if he
10 is an EMT and someone had a heart attack on the gaming
11 floor, yes, he would have to go to the gaming floor to
12 perform his duty.
13 COMMISSIONER JONES: Okay.
14 MS. PORTER: But as far as actually finding
15 a specific definition for nongaming occupations, I was not
16 privy to any evidence supporting that one way or the other
17 and did not find any on my independent research of the
18 law.
19 COMMISSIONER HAIS: If I may inquire,
20 please, or, Chris, whoever wants to, just -- pardon me.
21 This is a stupid question.
22 But Resolution 08-113, in paragraph 4 says,
23 by doing so approves the Level II occupational license of
24 Hesterberg.
25 This is recommending that he get the
29
1 license. You indicated that we decide. Is that -- that's
2 different than this.
3 MS. PORTER: I have not actually seen the
4 resolution itself. They don't provide me with copies of
5 those, so I can't speak to that.
6 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Sorry. But that's what
7 it says.
8 MR. HINCKLEY: Correct, Commissioner. The
9 Commission will generally just --
10 COMMISSIONER HAIS: If we want to approve
11 this, we can just --
12 MR. HINCKLEY: Correct. For the sake of --
13 for the majority of hearing officer findings, for the sake
14 of saving work, we'll generally prepare a resolution
15 that's consistent with her recommended findings, but with
16 the idea that it's always open for -- obviously for the
17 Commissioners to reject that and adopt a different way.
18 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Okay. Thank you.
19 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Chris, can I ask you
20 another question?
21 Has this come up before? Have we had to
22 interpret this before, what is gaming and what is
23 nongaming? Is this an issue that we need to address?
24 MR. HINCKLEY: It's never come up before,
25 and it may be simply an oversight on my part for not
30
1 pointing out some of the very basic, often overlooked,
2 kind of practices, in that when you apply for a gaming
3 license, you are applying for a gaming-related position.
4 And sometimes, I guess, in doing this for,
5 you know, a little bit, I pass over the fact of pointing
6 that out to the hearing officer because of, I guess, a
7 presumption on my part that they understand that.
8 But there is some -- obviously within the
9 statute some interpretation to allow for nongaming-
10 related positions to have -- or to be exempted from this.
11 But if you read it, if the person is
12 applying for a gaming license, they -- you know, that they
13 can't have a felony conviction.
14 So the only real exception here in this part
15 of the statute is for -- is to allow licensees to contract
16 with felons, not necessarily for gaming licensees to be
17 exempted from that position -- or from that situation.
18 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: So there is a
19 question of whether or not they need to have a gaming
20 license, need to be licensed?
21 MR. HINCKLEY: Correct. Because, like, if
22 the gaming licensee does not necessarily need -- it's not
23 gaming related, they don't need to have a gaming license,
24 but they will be employed or contracted by a licensee.
25 And the section here says they shall not
31
1 employ people that -- employ or contract with people that
2 have been convicted of a felony.
3 So that is actually what I believe the
4 exemption to pertain to, the employment or contracting
5 with a felon.
6 There is no way around the fact that gaming-
7 related occupations cannot have that. There is no way to
8 find that a gaming-related position is nongaming.
9 It's confusing. I apologize.
10 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: It's very confusing.
11 MS. PORTER: I think, too, it just gives you
12 the discretion. I don't think that it mandates you to go
13 ahead and give someone a license. It just I think in some
14 cases just allows you to examine the case and not have to
15 do an automatic denial.
16 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is Mr. Hesterberg here and
17 would he care to speak?
18 MR. HESTERBERG: Good morning.
19 CHAIRMAN/COMMISSIONERS: Good morning.
20 MR. HESTERBERG: I would just like to point
21 out that this incident occurred approximately 15 years
22 ago, and I have not had any trouble since this incident.
23 And, in fact, I have, I believe, proven myself as far as
24 my education and commitment to emergency medical services,
25 as well as the prior service.
32
1 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions for
2 Mr. Hesterberg?
3 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: I will ask: You did
4 disclose this information upon your application. Correct?
5 MR. HESTERBERG: That is correct.
6 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Counselor, just to
7 clarify: You indicated when you recited the circumstances
8 that he did disclose that he was arrested and that he
9 pleaded to the charge and -- although he got the charge
10 wrong, I think. Right? Is that --
11 MS. PORTER: He listed it as carrying a
12 concealed weapon, and the ultimate charge he pled to was
13 unlawful use of a weapon.
14 COMMISSIONER HAIS: All right. And he also
15 got wrong the disposition?
16 MS. PORTER: No. He said he got a suspended
17 imposition of sentence and probation.
18 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Oh. I thought you said
19 he received a conviction.
20 MS. PORTER: He pled guilty to, I think is
21 the word I used. I don't know that I ever used
22 conviction, because it's an SIS.
23 COMMISSIONER HAIS: But he received a
24 sentence that was suspended?
25 MS. PORTER: Correct.
33
1 COMMISSIONER HAIS: That's a suspended
2 execution of sentence?
3 MS. PORTER: No. He received a suspended
4 imposition of sentence, an SIS.
5 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Was there a term that
6 was imposed?
7 MS. PORTER: Five years, and then he was
8 released from probation after one year.
9 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Okay.
10 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: So it's not on his
11 record?
12 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Unless they've changed
13 the criminal law, I was given to understand that if a
14 specific sentence is imposed but suspended, it's the
15 execution of the sentence that's being suspended, not the
16 imposition.
17 MS. PORTER: That is not my understanding of
18 it, and I think --
19 MR. HINCKLEY: Correct, Your Honor.
20 Commissioner, the term was the term of
21 probation, not the sentence.
22 So there was no sentence imposed.
23 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Okay.
24 MR. HINCKLEY: It was a suspended
25 imposition, with a period of probation of five years.
34
1 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Oh. It was a five-year
2 probation period?
3 MR. HINCKLEY: Right.
4 The wording of the statute -- the statute
5 says pled guilty to or been convicted of. But I guess for
6 the sake of convenience or, you know, improperly, I think
7 I may have referred to it as a conviction. But I know
8 that it's not. He pled guilty to the crime.
9 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Thank you for clarifying
10 that.
11 I would move the adoption of Commission
12 Resolution 08-113.
13 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Second.
14 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
15 seconded.
16 Thank you, Mr. Hesterberg.
17 Is there further discussion?
18 Hearing none, call the roll, please.
19 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
20 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
21 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
22 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
23 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
24 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
25 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
35
1 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
2 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
3 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
4 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
5 Resolution 08-113.
6 MS. PORTER: The next case is Monica
7 Garrett, Case No. 08-513.
8 Ms. Garrett applied for a Level II license.
9 She failed to disclose an arrest on her application. She
10 did not actually attend the hearing, although she did
11 request an administrative hearing. So no evidence was
12 presented on her behalf.
13 Based on the information and evidence
14 provided on the Gaming Commission's behalf, I found that
15 Ms. Garrett did not, in fact, disclose the arrest on her
16 application. The Gaming Commission recommended denial of
17 her license, and I agree with that recommendation.
18 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Any questions for
19 Ms. Porter?
20 Is Ms. Garrett here and would she care to
21 speak?
22 Is there a motion?
23 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: I make a motion we
24 approve Resolution 08-114.
25 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Second.
36
1 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
2 seconded.
3 Is there further discussion?
4 Mr. Hinckley, do you have something you
5 wanted to say?
6 MR. HINCKLEY: Not on this resolution,
7 Mr. Chairman.
8 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Call the roll, please.
9 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
10 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
11 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
12 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
13 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
14 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
15 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
16 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
17 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
18 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
19 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
20 Resolution No. 08-114.
21 MR. HINCKLEY: Commissioner, if I may for a
22 second bring your attention back to Resolution -- I
23 believe it's 08-113, Mr. Hesterberg, the one prior to
24 this.
25 The statute -- perhaps I was not clear. The
37
1 statute says that a license shall not be granted to an
2 applicant that has pled guilty to a felony.
3 There is no exception to that language. The
4 language that allows for an exception speaks to nongaming-
5 related occupations and the employment of such people by
6 licensees.
7 The first sentence of the statute says that
8 people that have pled guilty to felonies shall not be
9 granted a license. The exception is for people for
10 nongaming-related occupations. So that speaks only to
11 employing those type of people or contracting with them.
12 I believe that the Commission adopted the
13 findings of Ms. Porter which granted --
14 MS. PORTER: They didn't adopt my findings.
15 They adopted the resolution which you guys provided the
16 language for.
17 MR. HINCKLEY: I'm sorry. The resolution
18 which concurred with Ms. Porter's findings.
19 MS. PORTER: The only findings I made were
20 that they need to consider it. I didn't make the
21 recommendation.
22 MR. HINCKLEY: Correct. I understand. I
23 understand.
24 I don't believe that there is any way that
25 the Commission within the law can adopt that resolution.
38
1 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions for
2 Mr. Hinckley?
3 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Well, Chris, your
4 previous statement about gaming positions and gaming-
5 related positions was different from hers also.
6 MR. HINCKLEY: Correct.
7 COMMISSIONER HAIS: And if I'm correct, it's
8 because anyone who holds a license or seeks a license is
9 in gaming regardless if it's -- it has nothing to do with
10 the actual participation in the games themselves?
11 MR. HINCKLEY: I believe so.
12 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Is that your position?
13 MR. HINCKLEY: I believe so. But in this
14 case, especially in this case, per the regs and per the
15 practical duties -- or for the duties of the individual,
16 they would require a gaming license. This can never be --
17 or cannot be classified as a nongaming-related position.
18 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Okay. You're not
19 talking about the EMT portion of it; you're talking about
20 the security?
21 MR. HINCKLEY: Security and EMT actually.
22 But security is EMT.
23 COMMISSIONER JONES: Unless they're a
24 contractor or employed by a contractor. Is that what
25 you're saying?
39
1 MR. HINCKLEY: Correct. If the person --
2 you have to start with whether or not the person would be
3 required to get a license in order for that to apply.
4 Because it says that if it's discovered to
5 be a nongaming-related function, well, we're out of the
6 box right there, because this is a gaming-related
7 function.
8 CHAIRMAN SHULL: So in order to correct
9 this, do we need to go back and cancel this approval? Do
10 we need a motion to cancel the approval?
11 MR. HINCKLEY: Rescind the approval.
12 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Rescind it.
13 MR. HINCKLEY: Based upon further argument
14 or consultation.
15 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Well, let me interject
16 this: I'd like to take a look at the gaming statute first
17 before we do anything, and I don't want to rush into this.
18 I move that we table the matter and take it
19 up later when we have a little more time to take a break,
20 so that I and whoever else would like to do so --
21 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: I would like to.
22 COMMISSIONER HAIS: -- and Commissioner
23 Bradley, perhaps, to take a look at the statute. I would
24 feel more comfortable doing that, because there is clearly
25 a conflict on the same side.
40
1 MR. HINCKLEY: Well, I believe it might be
2 due to an oversight as to what is a gaming-related
3 occupation.
4 COMMISSIONER HAIS: The thing is, when we
5 come here and we listen to these, we anticipate that we're
6 hearing one voice, and we're not right at the moment.
7 MR. HINCKLEY: Well, that actually is not
8 always the case. I mean, the hearing officer does
9 disagree with the Commission on occasion.
10 That's why as an adversarial party, myself
11 and Mr. Hesterberg, we can be asked to speak to the
12 commissioners about our interpretation of the facts and
13 the law.
14 COMMISSIONER HAIS: This particular
15 circumstance has not occurred in my experience, my humble
16 experience. All right? That's what I'm telling you.
17 MR. HINCKLEY: Okay.
18 COMMISSIONER HAIS: So I would like to take
19 a further look at it, and I move to table the matter.
20 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there a second?
21 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Second.
22 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
23 seconded to table this matter, 08-113.
24 Is there further discussion?
25 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, you've already
41
1 passed the resolution. You're going to need to take some
2 action on the resolution before you can table --
3 COMMISSIONER HAIS: That's what we're
4 tabling.
5 MR. MCNARY: We have to rescind it first,
6 wouldn't we?
7 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Yeah, but we haven't
8 gotten that far yet.
9 MR. MCNARY: What are you tabling?
10 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Any further action. We
11 can do later what we're being asked to do now by
12 Mr. Hinckley.
13 MR. MCNARY: I think you can just hold and
14 then bring it up later.
15 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Yeah, that's what I'm
16 proposing. I mean, I prefer to --
17 MR. MCNARY: Judge, anything we --
18 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I'm using table not in
19 the Robert's sense but just to --
20 MR. MCNARY: Defer it.
21 COMMISSIONER HAIS: -- defer it.
22 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
23 seconded, been discussed.
24 Call the roll, please.
25 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
42
1 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
2 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
3 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
4 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
5 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
6 But voting on it is not what I had in mind.
7 I just --
8 COMMISSIONER JONES: But it was a motion.
9 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I'm sorry.
10 All right. Then I withdraw the motion, and
11 I just would request, Mr. Chairman, that we defer the
12 matter to later.
13 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approved.
14 MS. PORTER: Our next case is a lot easier,
15 and the last one, Billy Stewart, 08-124.
16 Mr. Stewart received a two consecutive
17 calendar day suspension of his license for failing to
18 protect casino assets, by allowing a patron to enter the
19 excursion boat, the River King, which is licensed to
20 Ameristar Kansas City, Inc.
21 Mr. Stewart requested an administrative
22 hearing and was sent notice of the hearing, which he
23 actually signed for, but he failed to appear at the
24 scheduled hearing date, so he did not present any
25 evidence.
43
1 After hearing the evidence presented by the
2 Gaming Commission's behalf, I did conclude that the Gaming
3 Commission's recommendation of a two consecutive calendar
4 day suspension of his license is appropriate, and I agree
5 with that recommendation.
6 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is Mr. Billy Stewart here
7 and care to speak?
8 COMMISSIONER JONES: Mr. Chairman, before we
9 take action on the resolution, just for clarification,
10 because I think there's -- this may be a typo.
11 The resolution refers to "her" occupational
12 license but all of the other documents say "he."
13 MS. PORTER: It is a "he."
14 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Any questions, further
15 questions for Ms. Porter?
16 Mr. Stewart, would he care to speak? Is he
17 in the audience?
18 Is there a motion?
19 COMMISSIONER JONES: I move for the adoption
20 of Resolution 08-124.
21 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Second.
22 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
23 seconded.
24 Is there further discussion?
25 Hearing none, call the roll, please.
44
1 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
2 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
3 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
4 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
5 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
6 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
7 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
8 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
9 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
10 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
11 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
12 Resolution No. 08-124.
13 MS. PORTER: Thank you very much.
14 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Thank you very much.
15 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, Item V on the
16 agenda is Disciplinary Action, to be handled by General
17 Counsel Chris Hinckley.
18 MR. HINCKLEY: Good morning, Mr. Chairman,
19 Commissioners.
20 CHAIRMAN/COMMISSIONERS: Good morning.
21 MR. HINCKLEY: I direct your attention to
22 Tab K and Disciplinary Complaint No. 08-807 concerning
23 Class B Licensee Lumiere Place Casino.
24 The violations alleged under this
25 preliminary order of disciplinary action concern
45
1 11 CSR 45-10.030, requiring the licensee to take
2 reasonable actions to safeguard gaming assets from any
3 loss, and the internal controls requiring the licensee's
4 investigative report are called qualifying variances that
5 register on casino electronic gaming devices, or EGDs.
6 In support of these alleged violations, the
7 Commission staff believes the following to be true: that
8 during a Commission audit it was discovered that the
9 licensee was not investigating these qualifying variances.
10 Qualifying variances, for your information,
11 are variances that are greater than 1 percent and more
12 than $5 on all variances, and on all variances greater
13 than $20 between total currency ticket coupons drop as
14 reported by the EGD computer monitoring system.
15 In this case the licensee reported they --
16 upon discovery that the -- there was no investigation of
17 these variances. The licensee reported that they were not
18 investigating the variances, but then assured the
19 Commission that they would do so per a plan that they had
20 submitted.
21 On a followup check of that audit finding,
22 it was revealed that these investigations were not taking
23 place according to their plan.
24 As a result of these factual allegations,
25 the Staff recommends that the Commission propose a
46
1 $10,000 fine.
2 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions for
3 Mr. Hinckley?
4 Have these all been corrected?
5 MR. HINCKLEY: Yes.
6 CHAIRMAN SHULL: And they are in compliance?
7 MR. HINCKLEY: Yes, the audit has been
8 completed, so the findings have been assuredly corrected.
9 It was a misinterpretation as to the rule,
10 the second finding, on their part. So once it was -- the
11 correct interpretation was given to them, their compliance
12 was assured.
13 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there a motion to
14 approve?
15 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I move to approve
16 D.C. 08-807.
17 COMMISSIONER JONES: Second.
18 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
19 seconded.
20 Is there further discussion?
21 Hearing none, call the roll, please.
22 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
23 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
24 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
25 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
47
1 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
2 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
3 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
4 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
5 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
6 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
7 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
8 D.C. 08-807.
9 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, Item VI on the
10 agenda is Consideration of Relicensure of Certain Class B
11 Licensees.
12 The first presentation will be Ameristar
13 Casino Kansas City, and we have Chet Koch and Vince
14 Gauthier, Executive Director of the Kansas City Port
15 Authority, who will make a presentation.
16 MR. FRANKE: Gene, sorry for the confusion.
17 Good morning, Chairman Shull, Commissioners.
18 The presentation today is a joint
19 presentation for Ameristar Kansas City and Ameristar
20 St. Charles.
21 MR. MCNARY: I was not aware of that, so let
22 me introduce also Jim Franke, who is the General Manager
23 for Ameristar St. Charles. And his mayor, one of my
24 favorite mayors, Patti York, and she's here and will also
25 make a presentation.
48
1 MR. FRANKE: Thank you, Gene.
2 We are before you today to make a
3 presentation in association with the renewal of Ameristar
4 Kansas City and the St. Charles Class B license.
5 We are requesting that both licenses be
6 renewed at this time for a period of two additional years.
7 We believe that the investigation we have
8 provided previously, and our presentation this morning,
9 will support your approval, as both properties have upheld
10 all commitments to their respective communities, to our
11 team members and to the state of Missouri.
12 Specifically, the information provided this
13 morning will be in response to the request of information
14 we received from the Commission staff.
15 Chet Koch is going to present the following
16 presentation points, I will return to finish up, and then
17 he and I will take questions, along with Troy Stremming
18 who is also in the audience.
19 MR. KOCH: Keeping with the requested
20 format, I'll now summarize the commitments of Ameristar
21 Kansas City and St. Charles during the most recent period
22 of licensure.
23 The first item is the Development Agreement
24 with the Kansas City -- through the Kansas City Port
25 Authority.
49
1 Ameristar Kansas City is committed to
2 working closely with the Kansas City Port Authority and
3 further local community.
4 We have voluntarily entered into a funding
5 agreement. Under the new five-year agreement, Ameristar
6 will provide $75,000 annually for the general operating
7 expenses of the Port Authority and $100,000 to the
8 National Center for Responsible Gaming.
9 At least $25,000 annually will be directed
10 to the Port Authority's Problem Gambling Fund. In
11 addition, the Kansas City property has committed to
12 providing up to $100,000 for a disparity study, to analyze
13 the Minority and Women Business Enterprises' contracting
14 goals in the community.
15 Finally, as part of the new agreement,
16 Ameristar contributed $2 million to the Port Authority for
17 the completion of the Riverfront Heritage Trail at the
18 ASB Bridge.
19 All of these payments are being made while
20 the company reinvested in its Kansas City property and
21 participated in philanthropic activities throughout the
22 city.
23 Ameristar St. Charles does not have a
24 development agreement with the City of St. Charles;
25 however, the property continued to display substantial
50
1 commitment to the city, in part through the recent
2 completion of numerous property upgrades, which Jim will
3 touch on very shortly. In addition, Ameristar's
4 philanthropic involvement in the community further
5 confirms our commitment to the City of St. Charles.
6 We will now look at the adjusted gross
7 revenues for the most recent period of licensure.
8 Kansas City's AGR was over $252 million in
9 2007, and through October of this year our AGR has reached
10 almost $210 million. The decrease in this year of revenue
11 has been caused by increased promotional spending by our
12 competitors and most recently the obvious downturn in our
13 economy.
14 St. Charles' gross revenues were over
15 $296 million in 2007, and we're almost $248 million
16 through October of this year.
17 St. Charles' 2008 revenue performance has
18 been significantly impacted by additional competition in
19 the marketplace, increased promotional spend by our
20 competitors and, of course, this economy.
21 As we move on, looking at admissions.
22 You can see that Kansas City's admissions
23 were over 7.8 million for 2007 and were approximately
24 6.4 million through October of 2008.
25 St. Charles' admissions were over
51
1 8.8 million in 2007 and were approximately 7.5 million
2 through October of this year.
3 We are seeing a slight decline in the number
4 of admissions as more experienced gamers are playing for
5 shorter periods of time; therefore, resulting in fewer
6 stayovers in gaming sessions.
7 In addition, admissions are being impacted
8 by the same competitive and economic forces that are
9 affecting our revenues.
10 Move on to our employment summary.
11 As of November 1st Kansas City employed
12 1,528 team members, 1,409 of which reside in Missouri.
13 Kansas City's minority and women employment percentages
14 are 36 percent and 48 percent respectively.
15 The average cash compensation computed by
16 the EEOC Job Group ranges from officers and managers at
17 $85,090 to service workers at $19,073 annually.
18 While the service workers' compensation may
19 appear low, it should be noted that the figure does not
20 include tips.
21 Additionally, neither of the figures include
22 additional compensation in the form of benefits, which
23 averages $11,725 for salaried employees and $6,218 for
24 full-time hourly team members.
25 Team member benefits offered include
52
1 comprehensive health insurance, disability insurance, life
2 insurance, 401-K, tuition reimbursement and employee
3 assistance program and paid time off.
4 As of the same date, St. Charles employed
5 1,762 team members, 1,626 residing in the state of
6 Missouri. St. Charles' minority and women employment
7 percentages are 36 percent and 51 percent respectively.
8 Again, computing the average cash
9 compensation by EEOC Job Group, average compensation
10 ranges from officers and managers at $83,849 to service
11 workers at $18,387. Additionally, the same benefits I
12 just mentioned are not included in these numbers.
13 Ameristar properties are committed to
14 providing opportunities to minority and women business
15 enterprises. The properties work to achieve the
16 objective by increasing awareness of our vendor diversity
17 initiative opportunities through our purchasing
18 departments, increasing companywide awareness of vendor
19 diversity initiative objectives and ultimately giving
20 every reasonable business opportunity to businesses owned
21 by minorities and women to participate as direct
22 suppliers, contractors and subcontractors. Results are
23 monitored and measured to set the goals.
24 Ameristar and its executives stay very
25 active in the Kansas City and St. Charles markets to
53
1 further advance MBEs and minorities in general throughout
2 local chapters of the Urban League and Minority Supplier
3 Council.
4 Kansas City's utilization of MBEs and WBEs
5 was 10 percent in 2007 and are expected to be at
6 11 percent in 2008, which equates to almost $8 million in
7 purchases.
8 Kansas City also utilized MWBEs for
9 10 percent of its construction purchases in 2007 and
10 expects to spend 11 percent in 2008.
11 During the same period St. Charles'
12 purchases from MWBEs were 5 percent in 2007 and are
13 expected to be at 11 percent in 2008, which equates to
14 about $5 million in purchases. St. Charles also made
15 $21.5 million of its 2007 and 2008 construction spend with
16 minority vendors.
17 I'll now turn it back over to Jim.
18 MR. FRANKE: Thank you, Chet.
19 Ameristar has pledged to make responsible
20 gaming an integral part of our daily operations. Both
21 Kansas City and St. Charles are able to achieve this
22 objective by adhering to initiatives adopted at each
23 property.
24 These include a training program to ensure
25 that all required team members receive responsible gaming
54
1 training when hired, and they are also retrained on an
2 annual basis.
3 Also, guests indicating the need for
4 responsible gaming information are referred to the 1-888-
5 BETSOFF helpline.
6 The properties also have signage at the
7 player club booth that alerts guests that they may be
8 removed from promotional mailings when requested.
9 Self-exclusion program brochures and
10 applications to discontinue ATM and check-cashing
11 privileges at the casino are also available at all casino
12 cages.
13 Our property also utilizes signage and
14 brochures to communicate responsible gaming to guests and
15 team members throughout our facilities.
16 Annual participation in Responsible Gaming
17 Educational Week also occurs at each property. This week
18 includes many property events regarding responsible gaming
19 to heighten guests' and team member awareness of problem
20 gaming.
21 All print, television, on-property and off-
22 property advertisements contain the gambling problem, call
23 1-887-BETSOFF in Missouri message. Our Star Awards Card
24 contains this message as well.
25 Lastly, Ameristar has committed a minimum of
55
1 $100,000 annually to responsible gaming awareness and
2 research through the National Center for Responsible
3 Gaming and 25,000 to Kansas City Port Authority Problem
4 Gaming Fund.
5 Both Ameristar in Kansas City and
6 St. Charles ensure that laws concerning the legal gambling
7 age is vigorously upheld. To do this the properties have
8 implemented programs to ensure that all required team
9 members receive underage gaming prevention training when
10 hired and are also retrained on an annual basis.
11 As you know, guests are not allowed to
12 access the casino floor if they are under age 21. To
13 ensure this is the case, any guest appearing to be under
14 the age of 30 is required to produce identification prior
15 to entering the casino floor. It is also our practice to
16 randomly card individuals under the age of 30 once they
17 are on the casino floor.
18 Both casinos have signage at the casino
19 entrances which states that guests must be at least
20 21 years of age to enter. The same message is included in
21 print, television, on-property and off-property
22 advertising. The Star Awards Club Card also contains the
23 message.
24 Ameristar Kansas City and St. Charles feel
25 that our commitment to the communities in which we operate
56
1 through charitable contributions and volunteerism is a big
2 part of who we are as a company.
3 In Kansas City contributions totaling
4 $351,000 were made in 2007 and $326 in 2008.
5 Additionally, Kansas City made annual
6 voluntary contributions of 200,000 to Clay County.
7 Kansas City team members contributed over
8 262,000 to the 2007 Workplace Giving Campaign. The amount
9 given by team members was matched by the company, and
10 funds given to physical rehabilitation efforts were
11 matched again by our past CEO's foundation. This raised
12 an additional $328,000.
13 In 2007 St. Charles' contributions totaled
14 over 416,000, and 264,000 in 2008.
15 Included in these amounts are contributions
16 to the campaign for Habitat for Humanity, Make-A-Wish
17 Foundation, Angel's Arms, among other charities.
18 St. Charles team members contributed over 257,000 in 2007,
19 the Workplace Giving Campaign.
20 Again, all of these funds were matched in
21 the same fashion as they were in Kansas City, which raised
22 340,000 additional dollars for charity.
23 Due to the current economic environment, our
24 2008 Workplace Giving Campaign for both properties was
25 postponed until the beginning of the year.
57
1 Ameristar Kansas City and St. Charles
2 volunteer their time to charitable causes in the
3 community, and we believe that is noteworthy as well.
4 Kansas City team members were active in,
5 among a lot of other things, the MDA Telethon held on
6 property, the Urban League of Greater Kansas City,
7 Operation Breakthrough and the Kansas City Rehabilitation
8 Center.
9 St. Charles team members were focused on,
10 again, in addition to many others, the Susan G. Komen Race
11 for a Cure, Operation Food Search, Disabled Athletes
12 Sports Association and the St. Louis Minority Business
13 Council.
14 Since the beginning of 2007 Kansas City has
15 invested $3.3 million to enhance its slot product in an
16 effort to improve the guest experience. Other projects
17 totaling 5.7 million have included an air quality upgrade,
18 Star Pavilion upgrade and a complete reconfiguration of
19 the MGC offices.
20 St Charles has completed smaller capital
21 improvement projects which have totaled $1 million during
22 the past year.
23 During the same period St. Charles completed
24 several major capital improvement projects to continue to
25 enhance our property.
58
1 These projects included our 400-room, all-
2 suite hotel, an additional 2,000-space parking garage, our
3 7,000-square-foot, full-service spa, with indoor and
4 outdoor pool. The main casino bar renovation and Home
5 Nightclub were also completed at the end of last year.
6 The amounts spent on all these projects was
7 over $273 million.
8 Attached is a photo of our new hotel in
9 St. Charles. It features upscale room finishes, with
10 plush amenities, plasma TVs. St. Charles rooms each have
11 a sunken living room area.
12 Standard guest suites measure at 628 square
13 feet. While every room is a suite, the hotel has
14 twelve enhanced room offerings, ten king spa suites and
15 two presidential suites. The hotel was defined to surpass
16 Triple A four quality diamond standards.
17 The indoor/outdoor pool features fountains
18 and hot tubs. The pool deck includes a fire pit, cabanas
19 and a banquet area.
20 The destination full-service spa includes
21 private treatment rooms, steam rooms, whirlpools and water
22 features, a sauna, as well as men's and women's lounges.
23 And, finally, St. Charles completed the
24 $20 million River Bluff Drive improvements between
25 5th Street and Main Street, now called Ameristar
59
1 Boulevard.
2 The road provides a safer, more convenient
3 form of egress and ingress to Main Street and Ameristar,
4 with two additional lanes and a center turn lane.
5 The improvements were coordinated through a
6 Transportation Development District and a Community
7 Improvement District which were established by Ameristar.
8 The district provided the revenue to fund and expedite the
9 improvements.
10 At this time Chet, myself and Troy will
11 answer any questions that you may have.
12 COMMISSIONER JONES: I have a question.
13 One: How serious are you committed to
14 minority and women businesses being involved in the
15 enterprises in St. Charles and Kansas City?
16 MR. FRANKE: Well, I can say that for
17 St. Charles, even though we're not under a development
18 agreement, we still take it very seriously, and we follow
19 the same steps that our Kansas City property is following.
20 In 2007 we lost one of our major minority
21 vendors, which was Craig Distributing, which provided over
22 a million dollars in MBWE spend.
23 Over the last 12 months --
24 COMMISSIONER JONES: Pardon me. What was
25 Craig?
60
1 MR. FRANKE: They were a beer
2 distributorship.
3 COMMISSIONER JONES: Okay.
4 MR. FRANKE: Over the next 12 to 18 months
5 we reviewed all of our vendors, making sure they were
6 categorized and that we knew who was available for that
7 spend.
8 And you can see that from 2007 to 2008 we've
9 increased it from 5 percent in 2007 to almost 11 percent
10 in 2008.
11 COMMISSIONER JONES: Well, that's good, but
12 my problem is, as I -- and, of course, I'm on the eastern
13 side of the state.
14 While I attend some of the minority affairs
15 or business affairs and when I attended the seminar in
16 Jeff City a couple of months ago, the representatives
17 there for your facilities indicated that they will do as
18 much as they could or more in employing minority and
19 women-owned business enterprises.
20 But as I travel the state, and especially on
21 the eastern side, I'm always hearing complaints about I
22 never getting a call back from your facility, even though
23 they're reaching out to the minority purchasing or the
24 purchasing director. I never -- I'm always hearing -- I'm
25 constantly hearing that when I call, they aren't returning
61
1 calls or returning my call, and I can't, you know, make
2 headway of what's going on. I have a thriving business.
3 I have invested significant capital into my business,
4 hoping that I can do something with a facility, but I
5 never get a call back.
6 When I attended the seminar in Jeff City a
7 couple of months ago, the representatives there said
8 that -- they indicated that one of their largest
9 purchasing vendors is the food service and that they will
10 do everything they could to try to increase minority
11 participation in the food service.
12 And I see that as being a recurring source
13 of revenue for minority businesses, which can really
14 actually take that number from 5, in this case, maybe
15 11 percent, to a significant number that will enhance
16 business minority and women-owned businesses.
17 And I'm pretty sure the mayor of St. Charles
18 would like that because that means more tax revenues for
19 her.
20 But the numbers just aren't shaking out, the
21 complaints aren't shaking out, and I'm just having a big
22 problem with that.
23 MR. FRANKE: Yeah, I wish that I was aware
24 of any of the complaints. I have not had any reach my
25 office. And should they reach my office, I will do
62
1 everything I can to investigate those and find out the
2 reasons why.
3 We work -- we meet monthly -- or quarterly
4 with John Nathan with the MGC and talk about our plans and
5 what we are doing to continue to promote this type of
6 spend, and we'll do everything that we can to continue to
7 increase it.
8 As you mentioned with the food service,
9 there is that secondary vendors, that even Allen Foods, or
10 our food vendors use, and they are now categorizing those
11 vendors that they use and who is minority or who is
12 women-owned business, so that we can also take credits for
13 those and make sure that we can direct purchases to those
14 vendors as well.
15 COMMISSIONER JONES: On those reports that
16 are coming in, I don't see that on the reports that we're
17 receiving from John Nathan, because we don't know -- how
18 many vendors are you using to get the 11 percent? We
19 don't know how many vendors, how many suppliers that
20 you're using, how they categorize.
21 Again, you said you're using Allen Foods. I
22 understand that sometimes you may have a national contract
23 with some of the -- some of the larger ones, like the
24 Sysco U.S. Foods.
25 Have they also been engaged to try to use
63
1 minority vendors as well? Because I really think that
2 that's a good number. Because the construction is here.
3 You may not do any more construction for the next couple
4 of years. But the food service is one that is going to
5 happen every day, every month, because you're always
6 constantly ordering.
7 MR. FRANKE: Our food service is the biggest
8 opportunity because we do spend so much of it there.
9 COMMISSIONER JONES: Absolutely.
10 MR. FRANKE: I think doing the secondary
11 vendors out there and us just having them track that and
12 give us the information will continue to promote that type
13 of spending from them.
14 MR. STREMMING: I just wanted to add a
15 couple of things.
16 Troy Stremming with Ameristar.
17 Obviously, this is very important to us as
18 well. I actually am on the Minority Supplier Council
19 Board in Kansas City. I'm the past chairman. I'm
20 currently the chairman of the Urban League.
21 And this is something that these guys hear
22 me talk about a lot, and being out in the community on
23 both sides of the state and meeting people and getting
24 business cards back to our purchasing group to follow up
25 with to build relationships.
64
1 But I think when we hear complaints like
2 that, that people aren't getting called back, I mean,
3 that's unacceptable to us. And if there is a way for you
4 when you hear that to pass it back through the Commission
5 and get that to us, we will absolutely reach back out to
6 these -- to these vendors.
7 But in some cases we find that we have
8 vendors that are complaining that they didn't get the
9 work, but we might be utilizing another minority or women-
10 owned business to do that exact same work.
11 So it doesn't mean that they're not going to
12 be in the cue the next time when we put bids out, to get
13 them back -- to get them back involved in the process.
14 A couple other things I just wanted to add.
15 We actually worked through the Minority Supplier Council
16 in Kansas City in establishing a minority vendor fair that
17 we have every year in Kansas City, and working in
18 conjunction with the Minority Supplier Council in
19 St. Louis to also have a similar event on the St. Louis
20 side of the state.
21 And we have had some success, and I think
22 some of the other casino businesses on both sides of the
23 state have as well.
24 And I think Vince Gauthiere with the Port
25 Authority could also tell you that we actually established
65
1 in conjunction with Isle of Capri a foundation in
2 Kansas City, of which we contributed over a million
3 dollars to help grow minority businesses.
4 And through my involvement in the Supplier
5 Council and Urban League we're constantly trying to push
6 businesses that are on the cusp of maybe not being able to
7 meet the quality -- not necessarily the quality but the
8 quantity demands we have in some cases, into that
9 foundation, to try to get them the help that they need to
10 get their business to the quantity standpoint that we can
11 use them.
12 And we do that in conjunction with, as you
13 stated, trying to partner with some minority-owned
14 businesses to piecemeal some of that business off to
15 minority businesses as well.
16 So it's something that is constantly a
17 front-of-mind issue with us, and, you know, we can always
18 do better, and we continue to strive to do that, but it is
19 something that's very important to us and we stay active
20 on it.
21 COMMISSIONER JONES: That's good.
22 On the reports that we receive, I never see
23 anyone on that report that I can recognize as being a food
24 service vendor.
25 MR. STREMMING: Okay.
66
1 COMMISSIONER JONES: Everything else but
2 never food service, and, like you say, that's the largest
3 opportunity that minorities and women have to engage at
4 the facilities, but I never see that.
5 And the complaints are coming from when they
6 go to the business affairs and passing out the business
7 cards. And they're saying that, hey, I never get
8 contacted, or when I reach out to them, I never get a
9 return phone call.
10 MR. STREMMING: Right.
11 COMMISSIONER JONES: So that's when I'm
12 hearing it from when they come out of the fairs.
13 MR. STREMMING: And that's not good and
14 that's the last thing we want.
15 COMMISSIONER JONES: It's not.
16 MR. STREMMING: And, again, if you could get
17 that information to anyone, we will make certain that
18 somebody gets a call back.
19 As a matter of fact, in Kansas City I know
20 they've established this process, and I don't know if
21 we're doing it in St. Charles. If not, we should.
22 And that is, we keep track when -- the
23 purchasing department, when they send out the bids, we
24 keep track of who came in with that bid, and we keep that
25 in the file so that we know who came in with that bid.
67
1 And in many cases if the MBE or WBE did not
2 get the bid, we call them back and tell them why they
3 didn't get the bid, so hopefully they can either, you
4 know, sharpen the pencil or meet a time demand or
5 something like that on the next go-around, so that we can
6 try to get them in the cue.
7 Another thing that we did is we enhanced
8 out -- if you go online on our website -- we've now put
9 the ability, you can go online and register to do business
10 with Ameristar.
11 And, obviously, you know, we want to grow
12 our minority and women-owned businesses as well, so we
13 have a place for you to check, and we make certain that
14 we've got them in the file.
15 So that when we are bidding, whether it's
16 paper goods or trash bag liners, light bulbs, whatever it
17 is, we know we've got somebody out there that is a MBE or
18 WBE that would reach back out to.
19 COMMISSIONER JONES: Well, that's good to
20 know.
21 So I guess we have your contact number
22 because --
23 MR. STREMMING: Absolutely.
24 COMMISSIONER JONES: -- I hate to have them
25 bombard --
68
1 MR. STREMMING: Absolutely.
2 COMMISSIONER JONES: Well, I'm going to have
3 them bombard Mr. McNary, so he can get on you.
4 MR. STREMMING: That would be fine.
5 COMMISSIONER JONES: I'll direct them to
6 Mr. McNary and have them get to you.
7 So we have your number?
8 MR. STREMMING: Absolutely. Mr. McNary has
9 my number.
10 COMMISSIONER JONES: Thank you.
11 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Would you mind also passing
12 that along to the people that do the purchasing, that you
13 have had the complaints --
14 MR. FRANKE: Absolutely.
15 CHAIRMAN SHULL: -- and that you would
16 appreciate them doing more?
17 MR. STREMMING: One other thing, and this is
18 an important issue to us, so I feel like I'm being
19 defensive. But our purchasing director in Kansas City
20 last year was awarded with the purchaser of the year in
21 the City of Kansas City by the Minority Supplier Council.
22 So, I mean, this is something, again, that
23 is -- that is important to us. And if people are out
24 there, you know, creating waves, saying we're not
25 returning phone calls, that's a problem that we want to
69
1 address.
2 COMMISSIONER JONES: Is that a young lady?
3 MR. STREMMING: Yeah.
4 MR. KOCH: Karen Duffy.
5 MR. STREMMING: Karen Duffy.
6 COMMISSIONER JONES: Yeah, she made that
7 commitment at the --
8 MR. KOCH: At the meeting, yeah.
9 COMMISSIONER JONES: Right, in Jeff City.
10 MR. KOCH: Exactly.
11 COMMISSIONER JONES: Said they were going to
12 try to do more with food service because that was the
13 largest --
14 MR. KOCH: And we have actually done it,
15 I mean, we -- to what Jim is talking about. We've gone to
16 a majority of vendors and we've pushed them to utilize the
17 minority vendors. And we've actually set up systems where
18 the minority vendors are now being able to supply from the
19 majority vendors. So it's worked out well.
20 Little Guy Foods is one of the vendors that
21 we partnered with and actually sent one of our accounting
22 people to actually help mentor them in their accounting
23 department and work with them to be able to structure the
24 company a little bit better.
25 MR. STREMMING: And made them so successful
70
1 that they've now sold the business to a majority --
2 MR. KOCH: Sold the business. You make
3 money where you make money. But they were --
4 COMMISSIONER JONES: I'd like to see that
5 throughout the entire state.
6 MR. KOCH: Sure.
7 COMMISSIONER JONES: But, like I said, she
8 made that commitment at the meeting.
9 MR. KOCH: And Karen represents us from a
10 corporate side. She's also our diversity and minority
11 representative for purchasing throughout the corporation.
12 We've been able to take some companies that
13 were local companies, minority vendors, and actually have
14 created national contracts with Ameristar, for paper
15 products, and the trashcan liners that Troy was relating,
16 to become a national vendor for us through all of our
17 Ameristar properties. So the commitment is very much
18 there.
19 And when John comes to visit us on a
20 quarterly basis, it's a very cordial visit, because we're
21 very -- very proactive in the community. We're very
22 proactive with our vendors.
23 The challenge that we put out is we want a
24 good product. We want it to be stable. And if those
25 products and those companies that are out there that are
71
1 willing to provide us on a regular basis with a
2 good-quality product, they have a fair shot, and we're
3 going to give them the opportunity to do business with us
4 every day.
5 CHAIRMAN SHULL: John is working on a new
6 form now that's going to standardize the information that
7 we receive, so that we can follow it and understand it.
8 Would you be willing to work -- put together
9 last year's figures using this new form that John has at
10 your year end indicating who the suppliers are, what their
11 product is?
12 MR. KOCH: Yes, we work -- whatever John has
13 asked for, we've been able to supply him with the
14 information.
15 CHAIRMAN SHULL: So would you be able to
16 have that by the end of February?
17 MR. KOCH: Yeah. For year end, yeah.
18 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Thank you.
19 Do you have any other questions?
20 COMMISSIONER JONES: No. That's it.
21 Thank you.
22 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Any other questions?
23 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Yes, I have a
24 question.
25 Some of this has to do maybe with a little
72
1 bit of the economy, and I know you said you didn't have
2 the statistics for 2008.
3 But when the economy gets tough, crime goes
4 up. Are you getting a handle on what it looks like for
5 2006, 2007 and perhaps 2008 for your properties, you know,
6 especially in St. Charles?
7 I mean, do you think you've got a good
8 handle on the safety for the Missourians who are on the
9 property?
10 MR. FRANKE: With the current economy
11 downturn, we haven't seen a big increase in those types of
12 offenses.
13 Now, we have seen an increased number of
14 arrests on our property over the last year, mostly due to
15 the opening of our nightclub.
16 And while the numbers seem to be showing an
17 upward trend, we're proud of those numbers because we've
18 worked closely with the MGC agents on property, and that
19 we're very quick to identify any issues and we proactively
20 deal with those issues.
21 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Okay.
22 CHAIRMAN SHULL: We also have a report from
23 the officer there that indicated that he would recommend
24 that you have more security in the nightclub to attempt to
25 reduce the issues that he believed are there. Have you
73
1 seen --
2 MR. FRANKE: I think that was from --
3 CHAIRMAN SHULL: -- talking about that --
4 MR. FRANKE: Well, over the summertime, as
5 the business volumes decreased, the amount of staffing
6 decreased as well.
7 But I don't think -- when I talked to him, I
8 don't believe he was talking as much inside the club as
9 outside the club and talking about Ameristar security,
10 making sure that we have plenty of support out there
11 should individuals be taken out, either the side door or
12 the back door, that we make sure that we have plenty of
13 people there to deal with any of the issues that come out.
14 We are committed to that. And, again, we're
15 working very closely with Sergeant Leitman and with his
16 team, and we'll make sure that staffing is appropriate for
17 the business volumes.
18 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Thank you.
19 Other questions or comments?
20 Thank you.
21 MR. FRANKE: Thank you.
22 MR. KOCH: Thank you.
23 MR. STREMMING: Thank you.
24 MR. MCNARY: Do you gentlemen intend to have
25 your mayor and Port Authority people come up?
74
1 MR. STREMMING: Why don't you have Vince
2 first from Kansas City.
3 MR. GAUTHIER: Good morning members of the
4 Commission. My name is Vincent Gauthier. On behalf of
5 the mayor and the City Council of Kansas City, thank you
6 for this opportunity.
7 Overall, the folks at Ameristar have been
8 very responsible and dependable community citizens.
9 Their gaming tax has been a significant
10 portion of the City's general revenue fund, and we've seen
11 very little impact -- excuse me. Anybody have a water?
12 Maybe not. It's that cold that's running around here.
13 We've had very little, what we've seen,
14 secondary impact from crime. So we find them to be a very
15 useful, good corporate citizen.
16 You briefly heard about, however, the
17 funding agreement that we have, but let me expound upon
18 that a little bit, because that's where the impact has
19 been, at least for the Port Authority in the City.
20 The Problem Gambling Fund, for those of you
21 who do not know, has been instrumental in some very
22 important research with regard to -- oh, God love you.
23 Thank you.
24 It's been instrumental with regard to some
25 very important research, as well as assistance for folks
75
1 with problem gambling.
2 We've also received money for the Riverfront
3 Project Fund. That's the $75,000 that was noted. This is
4 a very useful bit of money for us because it's basically
5 unattached, and we can use it on any of the physical
6 improvements we're doing on the riverfront.
7 And for those of you who are not aware, we
8 are making substantial improvements on Kansas City's
9 riverfront after over 110 years of dumping on it and
10 misusing it.
11 We as of last year received our final no-
12 further-action letter. So we now have 100 acres of land
13 that is clean, ready for redevelopment, and we're thrilled
14 with this opportunity. We're going to make it the
15 greenest part of this state you've ever seen down there.
16 So this money will be used in that regard.
17 And one of the major projects that's part of
18 that is this -- part of the Riverfront Heritage Trail that
19 was referenced.
20 Two years ago, in a very creative approach,
21 the folks at Ameristar contributed $2 million to the Port
22 Authority to assist us with a project that's also being
23 partly funded by the State through transportation funds to
24 do a connection on a trail that will be run all of the way
25 from Kansas City, Kansas all of the way to what's known as
76
1 Riverfront Park, approximately 12 miles in length when
2 it's all completed. And the most difficult portion of
3 this project is what they helped fund.
4 And these folks may not know it behind me,
5 but as of Monday of this week we got our final agreement
6 with the railroad. And if any of you have ever negotiated
7 with the railroad, you'll know why this project has taken
8 nine years to make happen. So thank you for that funding.
9 So we're moving forward, and we'll be
10 breaking ground. The next time I see you I'll be telling
11 you how beautiful it looks completed.
12 The fourth thing is -- and I'm glad Troy
13 mentioned it -- is this Port Authority/Ameristar/Isle of
14 Capri Fund for the advancement of minority and women-
15 owned businesses.
16 I would encourage no one to ever do a title
17 that long for a fund. But this is a critical fund in the
18 City of Kansas City to help businesses that are really on
19 that edge. They want to be able to step up to the next
20 level but need some assistance, and we do it through both
21 grants and low-interest loans.
22 And I will tell you that over the last two
23 years, as this has ramped up, this has become a very
24 integral part of the minority business community in
25 assisting folks, and there is a direct relationship with
77
1 trying to help the casino industry.
2 That's probably a good seque into noting
3 that with regard to the MBE and WBE involvement, the Port
4 Authority is working directly with the folks at the Isle
5 of Capri. There is actually two different folks in
6 addition to Troy that we work with on a fairly regular
7 basis.
8 And I had a long conversation prior to this
9 meeting with our compliance officer to understand exactly
10 where we were as currently as possible, and she indicated
11 that one of the newest things that I was not aware of was
12 that the Ameristar is working on an in-house suppliers
13 list and trying to enhance the number of minority and
14 women-owned business enterprises that are working on the
15 in-house services.
16 And I think you heard a little bit about
17 that, but that is something that has ramped up in the last
18 couple months.
19 Let's see.
20 I guess in conclusion, I just want to
21 reiterate that overall they've played a strong civic and
22 economic role in the city and we encourage your most
23 thoughtful consideration of their relicensing.
24 Thank you.
25 Any questions, please?
78
1 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Thank you very much.
2 Does anyone have questions?
3 Thank you very much.
4 MR. GAUTHIER: Thanks for the water.
5 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Enjoy your water.
6 MR. FRANKE: Commissioners, Executive
7 Director, let me now introduce to you our mayor from
8 St. Charles, Ms. Patti York.
9 MS. YORK: Commission members, Mr. McNary,
10 good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am Mayor Patti York
11 from the City of St. Charles, Missouri, and I thank you
12 for giving me the opportunity to testify before you in
13 regard to the Commission's consideration of the
14 relicensure of Ameristar Casino in St. Charles.
15 It is a pleasure to be here and have the
16 opportunity to tell you about all of the great things our
17 city has been able to accomplish as a homedock community.
18 One of the questions I know that you always
19 ask is the quality of Ameristar as a corporate citizen.
20 And I'm pleased and proud to say that Ameristar is an
21 active corporate citizen in our community, to the big
22 things.
23 Like, Ameristar raises money for adult and
24 children charities, assists in fundraising for civic
25 events and community activities and contributes to many,
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1 many worthy causes.
2 But also to the little things, like sitting
3 on the Board of the Chamber of Commerce, to actively
4 participating in local civic organizations. Ameristar and
5 its staff and employees stand ready to assist our
6 community.
7 The economic impact on our homedock
8 community is great. The Ameristar facility, of course, is
9 a great economic engine in our city. Ameristar has
10 invested well over $500 million in our city.
11 And in late 2007 Ameristar opened a
12 400-room, all-suite, luxury, four-star hotel, spa and
13 nightclub, something that most people didn't think would
14 ever show up in St. Charles. So we're very proud and
15 pleased to say it did.
16 Ameristar is the City's largest employer,
17 with approximately 1,800 employees.
18 The Ameristar facility anchors the South
19 Main Street/Riverfront area. Since 2004 development north
20 of the Ameristar facility has included the construction of
21 a new hotel, restaurant and residential housing,
22 condominiums and villas, with prices in excess of $300,000
23 per unit.
24 To the south, development started this year
25 on the streets of St. Charles, a new urban mix of
80
1 commercial, office, retail and residential development on
2 approximately 25 acres, where the popular Noah's Ark
3 Restaurant used to be located.
4 In 2008 Riverbluff Drive, which is the
5 access road to the Ameristar facility, was reconstructed
6 and widened to five lanes and renamed Ameristar Boulevard.
7 This project's financing was achieved
8 through a cooperation agreement among Ameristar, our city,
9 a Transportation Development District and Community
10 Improvement District.
11 In 2009 work is starting on widening the
12 westbound exit ramp from Interstate 70 onto Northbound
13 Fifth Street.
14 Improvements to the exit ramp will alleviate
15 congestion into Ameristar Boulevard and into the Ameristar
16 facility, as well as to our Bass Pro facility.
17 The gaming tax and admission fee to the City
18 of St. Charles is a little over $14 million in 2008. The
19 revenue has enabled the city to execute numerous public
20 works projects, from street construction and repair,
21 stormwater, sanitary sewer, water and numerous other
22 infrastructure improvements.
23 The revenue has enabled the city, in
24 conjunction with the county's Sports Facility Authority,
25 to operate its convention center, and it has also added to
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1 the development of acquisition of parks, funding to the
2 St. Charles Family Arena and funding for DARE and SRO
3 officers in our schools, among other things.
4 When we talk about infrastructure, I may
5 have mentioned this before, but I was able to accept on
6 behalf of the City of St. Charles an award for having the
7 oldest clay pipe sewer still in existence in the
8 United States.
9 So you can see we have some old
10 infrastructure, and that is one of the things we've done
11 in our community is dedicate this gaming money to
12 infrastructure improvements. It's still working, and we
13 haven't done anything on that one yet.
14 The operation of the gaming facility and
15 crime in our city, we really believe that this facility is
16 an asset to the city, and the operation of the Ameristar
17 facility has provided no negative secondary effect in
18 terms of criminal activity in our city.
19 I spoke with our police chief to concur with
20 this and he does. On average annually approximately
21 3 percent of the police department's total calls per
22 service involve the Ameristar facility. This is
23 reasonable for the number of patrons who visit the
24 facility.
25 Our police department has an excellent
82
1 working relationship with the Missouri Highway Patrol
2 personnel assigned to the facility, and we also have an
3 excellent working relationship with the security personnel
4 of Ameristar.
5 I was looking at the numbers here, and I see
6 that we are higher, of course, than the Clay County area.
7 And to speak to that, we are on the busiest
8 highway intersection in the whole United States. On
9 Highway 70 we see between 225,000 to 250,000 cars a day on
10 Highway 70 come through our city, and we have found that
11 that is where the majority of our problems come from.
12 The city has no revenue-sharing agreement
13 with any adjacent political subdivisions regarding
14 Ameristar. The city utilizes the gaming tax and fee
15 revenues on projects that benefit adjoining communities
16 and the public in general, though we make a point of
17 working with the communities around us, the convention
18 center. We have numerous festivals, our DARE, SRO
19 officers and certain road projects.
20 And in conclusion I just thank you for the
21 opportunity to testify, and on behalf of the City of
22 St. Charles, Missouri we provide 100 percent support and
23 endorsement for the relicensure of Ameristar St. Charles.
24 So if you have any questions, I'd be happy
25 to answer what I can.
83
1 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions?
2 MS. YORK: Thank you very much for your
3 time.
4 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Thank you very much.
5 MR. MCNARY: The next item would be public
6 comment, Mr. Chairman, if anyone has a comment.
7 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there anyone who cares
8 to comment publicly?
9 Seeing none.
10 MR. MCNARY: Then I would call on Sergeant
11 Gary Davidson to make the summary investigative summary,
12 who did the investigation on -- or report on both
13 Ameristar east and west.
14 SERGEANT DAVIDSON: Mr. Chairman and
15 Commissioners, if it pleases the Commission, I can do it
16 separately for each one of the resolutions or I can do it
17 combined, whichever.
18 CHAIRMAN SHULL: You can take liberty.
19 SERGEANT DAVIDSON: I'll do it combined.
20 Investigators of the Missouri Gaming
21 Commission conducted a relicensing background
22 investigation of Ameristar Casino Kansas City and
23 Ameristar Casino St. Charles.
24 Ameristar Casino Kansas City and Ameristar
25 Casino St. Charles are wholly owned subsidiaries of
84
1 Ameristar Casinos, Incorporated, a publicly traded Nevada
2 corporation.
3 Both Ameristar Casino Kansas City and
4 Ameristar Casino St. Charles were incorporated in the
5 State of Missouri on October 10, 2000 for the purpose of
6 acquiring, owning and operating riverboat gaming
7 operations in Kansas City and St. Charles.
8 Ameristar Casinos, Incorporated is an
9 established multi-jurisdictional gaming enterprise that
10 currently owns and operates eight properties in six
11 gaming jurisdictions, such as Colorado, Indiana, Iowa,
12 Mississippi, Missouri and Nevada.
13 A check with the state gaming authorities of
14 those jurisdictions revealed no significant concerns or
15 issues.
16 Credit and criminal background checks were
17 conducted on Ameristar Casino Kansas City and St. Charles
18 key and Level I personnel. No discrepancies or concerns
19 were noted.
20 The criminal background checks included, but
21 were not limited to, checks with Federal, State, county
22 and municipal law enforcement agencies where the
23 individuals lived, worked and frequented.
24 The city administrators and the city
25 prosecutor, as well as the police and fire departments in
85
1 the Cities of Kansas City and St. Charles, were contacted
2 referencing any concerns regarding the operations in
3 Kansas City and St. Charles. They indicated they had no
4 negative information to provide.
5 Ameristar Casino Kansas City and Ameristar
6 Casino St. Charles have been issued docking permits by the
7 Department of Army Corps of Engineers, with no negative
8 comments received.
9 The Missouri Department of Natural Resources
10 were contacted regarding wastewater-handling facilities of
11 Ameristar Casino Kansas City and Ameristar Casino
12 St. Charles and found them to be adequate.
13 The results of this investigation were
14 provided to the Missouri Gaming Commission staff for their
15 review. Specific details related to our investigative
16 findings are contained within the comprehensive summary
17 reports in your possession.
18 At this time I would be happy to answer any
19 questions that you might have.
20 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Do we have a question?
21 The only question I have is there have been
22 several audits since the last license in 2006, and I would
23 like to know if all of the required corrective actions
24 have been taken.
25 SERGEANT DAVIDSON: I could have -- do you
86
1 have that information?
2 MS. ALONZO: Hi. Cheryl Alonzo, Director of
3 the Compliance Audit.
4 The most recent audit and our followup to
5 that one, those items have been addressed. You know, for
6 the '06 audit, I wouldn't know.
7 As far as -- we had no indication -- we
8 didn't have any -- I don't think we had any GIR or repeat
9 findings in that '06 audit. In the '07 audit, the
10 followup, I don't think there were any -- well, I don't
11 want to say. I don't know for sure.
12 SERGEANT DAVIDSON: Let me see.
13 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Would someone from the
14 company like to speak to that?
15 (Inaudible.)
16 THE COURT REPORTER: I can't hear this.
17 MR. MCNARY: Cheryl and Julie, I think
18 you're talking too. You're going to have to come up and
19 use the mike. Otherwise, the record won't reflect the
20 conversation.
21 CHAIRMAN SHULL: I heard. Maybe the
22 reporter did not hear, but I did understand what she said.
23 Thank you.
24 Does anyone from the company have a comment
25 on it or --
87
1 MS. ALLEN: Hi. My name is Julie Allen, and
2 I'm the Director of Regulatory Compliance for Kansas City.
3 And the question was, did we have any repeat
4 findings for the '06 and '07 audit?
5 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Have they all been
6 corrected?
7 MS. ALLEN: Yes, all of the audit issues
8 have been corrected from the '06 and '07 audit.
9 CHAIRMAN SHULL: And '08?
10 MS. ALLEN: He asked about the '08.
11 Is the '08 the one I just sent you?
12 MS. ALONZO: Yeah. We haven't followed up
13 yet on '08. It's just --
14 MS. ALLEN: But on our end, yes, everything
15 has been rectified from all of the audits that the Gaming
16 Commission has issued to us.
17 MS. ALONZO: The '08 audit is going to be
18 issued this week.
19 MS. ALLEN: And all of the audit findings
20 from the St. Charles' audits have been followed up on as
21 well.
22 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Thank you very much.
23 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, Staff recommends
24 relicensure of both Ameristar Casino, as well as
25 St. Charles.
88
1 CHAIRMAN SHULL: And the first appears to be
2 Kansas City, 08-115.
3 Is there a motion?
4 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Chairman, I would move
5 the adoption of Commission Resolution 08-115.
6 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Second.
7 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
8 seconded.
9 Is there further discussion?
10 Hearing none, call the roll, please.
11 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
12 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
13 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
14 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
15 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
16 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
17 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
18 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
19 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
20 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
21 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
22 Resolution No. 08-115.
23 CHAIRMAN SHULL: The next resolution is
24 08-116.
25 Is there a motion?
89
1 COMMISSIONER JONES: I move for the approval
2 of Resolution 08-116.
3 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Second.
4 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
5 seconded.
6 Is there further discussion?
7 Hearing none, call the roll, please.
8 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
9 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
10 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
11 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
12 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
13 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
14 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
15 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
16 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
17 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
18 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
19 Resolution No. 08-116.
20 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, unless the Chair
21 or Commission wants to take a break, we'll move along with
22 the presentation by Pinnacle President Casino.
23 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Proceed.
24 MR. MCNARY: Pinnacle is represented by
25 Attorneys Jerry Riffel and Jack Godfrey and the City of
90
1 St. Louis, Mr. Rodney Crim.
2 MR. RIFFEL: Mr. Chairman, I would like to
3 hand out some hard copies of the presentation, if I could.
4 There are a number of Pinnacle-related
5 officers and employees in the attendance, and Todd George
6 will speak on behalf of the request for Lumiere
7 relicensure later, but I'd like to introduce just several
8 that will be very involved in this.
9 To my right, esteemed general counsel of
10 Pinnacle Entertainment, Jack Godfrey, who is going to
11 assist with the presentation. And I'd like Chris
12 Strobbe -- where are you, Chris? Could you stand up?
13 General Manager of the President.
14 Charles Felton, who handles purchasing of
15 food and liquor and is working a lot on the compliance
16 plan, MWBE issues, will be available for questions.
17 And, last, our esteemed partner and leader
18 from the St. Louis Development Corporation, Rodney Crim,
19 who will speak on behalf of the City.
20 We have had a very interesting year at the
21 President. We've followed the format that you requested
22 in terms of your answers.
23 The performance of the President during the
24 last year.
25 Moving on.
91
1 We projected at the beginning year that we
2 have AGR of -- rounded off -- $43 million. For reasons
3 that we will explain, that did not turn out to be
4 possible. Based upon numbers through October 31st, we
5 think that is going to be 26 million. Our admissions are
6 down 35 percent.
7 We've made, we think, a substantial capital
8 investment at the end of '07, during '07 and the beginning
9 of '08, in accounting for our slot machines and electronic
10 games, and we also upgraded our vehicles, worked on
11 renovating the entrance to the casino, and spent 3 million
12 bucks.
13 The reasons are several why we did not meet
14 those financial projections. We think one of the basic
15 reasons is flooding.
16 Moving on.
17 We had serious flooding issues during 2008.
18 We were affected by the economy during 2008. We believe
19 that the opening of Lumiere Place Casino in our
20 neighborhood and the opening of the casino Queen Facility
21 across the river also had impact on reducing our revenues.
22 If you look on the next slide, during 2008,
23 it's pretty incredible how the high waters affected our
24 project.
25 For example, from March through September we
92
1 did not have access to any of our primary parking. As you
2 can see, we were closed in April, June and September. The
3 total was 45 days. These were very, very difficult issues
4 to deal with. We had your full cooperation.
5 I included some pictures of the flooding
6 conditions in Downtown St. Louis in the summer of 2008,
7 which I think are surprising by the severity of it and had
8 a high impact on the President because of its location
9 moored in the Mississippi River.
10 If you just move through those slides about
11 five or six seconds.
12 That's a scene looking from the boat. You
13 see the -- you see the entrance going off to your left, on
14 the west side of the slide.
15 Next.
16 That's the entrance to the President Casino.
17 As you can see, it would have been impossible for anyone
18 to get into the facility.
19 Moving on.
20 That's another shot from a little bit
21 different angle.
22 Moving on.
23 That's another shot.
24 Moving on.
25 And that's the valet parking shed. That's
93
1 usually the circular drive that goes into the development,
2 is located at that location.
3 2008 required the company to take a new look
4 at its business plan, to take some actions very direct and
5 proactive in the hopes that in 2009 that we can do better.
6 We have changed working with Commission
7 staff, our operating hours. We've reduced the total per
8 week about 30 hours. We've closed a poker room on top of
9 C Deck, and we've got a 21 percent reduction in our
10 workforce.
11 At the same time we have proactively worked
12 with the community and with the city to improve
13 conditions.
14 Working with Rodney Crim and his staff
15 pursuant to the Development Agreement, we have created,
16 with the approval of the St. Louis City Board of Aldermen,
17 the Community Improvement District.
18 This is going to produce a special
19 assessment on real property, which is on us, or affiliated
20 corporations, and which will produce $365,000 a year.
21 We also have worked very hard with the
22 Metropolitan Police Department and the Missouri Gaming
23 Commission over the last several months in improving those
24 security problems, and we did have significant security
25 problems during 2008.
94
1 The next slide, please.
2 The President has an excellent record -- we
3 are very proud of this -- of hiring and promoting
4 minorities.
5 During 2008 we actually took a new step to
6 make sure we do everything we can to promote MBE,
7 Minority-Based Enterprises, and WBE, Women-Based
8 Enterprises.
9 And what we did was we signed, pursuant to
10 the Development Agreement, Lumiere did, Pinnacle
11 Entertainment did, a compliance plan.
12 And that compliance plan covers all aspects
13 of purchasing liquor, food and other purchasing of vendors
14 by the facility. And we have moved that function of the
15 President for food and liquor to Lumiere.
16 And Charles Felton is now handling those
17 purchases. The goals are 25/5. That's -- there are
18 reporting requirements that go to the St. Louis Economic
19 Development Corporation.
20 And we are already seeing significant
21 increases and results in those areas of purchasing, and we
22 expect that to continue.
23 We have an excellent record of hiring and
24 promoting minorities. We have, as you can see on those
25 demographics, 61 percent African/American, 36 percent
95
1 Caucasian; gender, female 52 percent and male 48 percent.
2 So we believe that we are doing a very good job in those
3 areas.
4 We also, the next slide, on that basis, have
5 54 percent Caucasian and 46 percent African/American.
6 The next slide.
7 Residency by state, which was a request that
8 you made for us to cover, is Missouri 45 percent and
9 Illinois 55 percent.
10 Peewee, next slide, please.
11 Our total payroll is $10,659,000. That's a
12 breakdown of salaries and wages, taxes and benefits.
13 The next slide.
14 Employment turnover during 2008 has dropped
15 to an all-time low of 20 percent. We believe we have a
16 happy group of workers, and we're working very hard to
17 keep it that way.
18 The next slide.
19 In our participation in the community,
20 during 2008 cooperatively with the Lumiere we gave over
21 $140,000 to charitable organizations. Our executive team
22 is involved in all of those agencies. We serve in a
23 leadership role in the Urban League, the League of Women
24 Voters and the American Red Cross. So we're very, very
25 involved at the President in the community.
96
1 The next slide.
2 We have a DAP program that's closely
3 enforced. We've worked with your staff in developing an
4 approved contract with consultants. We follow those
5 procedures that are shown. We review the DAP list prior
6 to cashing checks. On jackpots we also follow the same
7 procedure.
8 The next slide.
9 On underage gaming, those are our
10 procedures. We call it Project 21.
11 The next slide.
12 Now, support of the City of St. Louis. I'll
13 bring up Rodney Crim in a moment, but first I want to show
14 you several other slides.
15 This is a letter from the Office of the
16 Mayor that Mr. Crim will discuss.
17 The next slide.
18 Just continue on through.
19 Continue on.
20 We have a Cooperation Agreement for
21 Riverside, and that shows when it was approved and what
22 the annual budget was, which I discussed.
23 The next slide.
24 These are the boundaries, and we think this
25 is very important.
97
1 At the top is Third Street. If you look,
2 there is Interstate Highway 70. And if you know the area,
3 west of that, or up, is the convention center property.
4 And we have a tunnel that comes from that property into
5 the Lumiere, which is in that lot called Consolidation
6 Plat of City Block 70.
7 So right below that, moving east, is surface
8 parking, the Lumiere Hotel, and then the parking below
9 that along the North Sullivan for the President and then
10 the President.
11 That entire area, which is also a
12 redevelopment planning area for the City of St. Louis,
13 between Martin Luther King and Carr on the north, is the
14 CID. That's the Community Improvement District.
15 So the use of a security program in that
16 area cooperatively with the City of St. Louis, which
17 contributes -- we put $365,000, we provide additional
18 lighting, we provide additional security and we work
19 cooperatively with the Lumiere, and we believe it's going
20 to be a significant positive force in improving security
21 and increasing revenues for the project.
22 The next slide.
23 As to the condition of the vessel. It is
24 waterproof. We conducted repairs on February 21, 2008.
25 On April 19 ABS Consulting determined that compartment to
98
1 be dry, and we had no evidence of any seepage.
2 With that, I would like to request that
3 Rodney Crim on behalf of the City address the Commission.
4 Mr. Crim.
5 MR. CRIM: Good morning, Commissioners. My
6 name is Rodney Crim. I'm the Executive Director of the
7 St. Louis Development Corporation, and we are the Economic
8 Development Agency for the City of St. Louis.
9 As Mr. Riffel mentioned and was shown up on
10 the PowerPoint, there was a copy of a letter that the
11 mayor has submitted to the Gaming Commission.
12 And that letter indicates -- and I won't
13 read it -- but it indicates that the City is extremely
14 pleased with the new Lumiere Place, as well as the
15 improvements made to the President, and we believe that
16 the excellent quality of Lumiere Place is both a major
17 asset to the city and a major asset to gaming in the State
18 of Missouri.
19 Therefore, we support both the relicensing
20 of Lumiere Place Casino and the relicensing of the
21 President on the Admiral.
22 So that's in the letter. I'll just make
23 some just general comments in addition.
24 That area that Mr. Riffel referred to was an
25 area that's been blighted -- had been blighted since 1981.
99
1 And so, again, with the development of Lumiere Place in
2 the whole area, after approximately, you know, 26 years,
3 we're very excited about what it does for the Downtown
4 riverfront.
5 The community is very excited about the
6 project. The Four Seasons is attracting a number of
7 events, as well as Hotel Lumiere.
8 And the company is a very good corporate
9 citizen, very involved in the Regional Chamber and Growth
10 Association, very involved in the Partnership for Downtown
11 St. Louis, the convention and visitors convention. All
12 have welcomed the Lumiere link, which connects, in
13 essence, the America Center with the Laclede's Landing,
14 broader area, and provides an easy, safe way for people to
15 get to the riverfront.
16 So in addition to the jobs and the tax
17 revenues that this project brings, we're pretty excited
18 about what it does for the overall enjoyment factor for
19 Downtown St. Louis and what it will encourage others to do
20 on a longer-term basis.
21 So, again, if you have any questions for me
22 representing the City, I'll be glad to entertain those.
23 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Any questions?
24 MR. MCNARY: I have a question, Mr. Crim.
25 Do you think that Lumiere is going to make a
100
1 difference in the economic development of downtown?
2 MR. CRIM: I think that, you know, prior to
3 Lumiere, we didn't have a Four Seasons Hotel in Downtown
4 St. Louis. Now we have what's been rated by Triple A as
5 one of -- their highest level designation with the -- I
6 think it's a five star diamond. And so that's pretty
7 impressive.
8 And that also provides some competition for
9 some of the outlying suburbs. Clayton has a Ritz Carlton.
10 We didn't have anything equivalent to the Ritz Carlton.
11 So that has attracted a lot of attention.
12 The corporations downtown are very excited
13 about that. It helps them when they're bringing in
14 clients, and it helps us retain some of the corporations
15 downtown.
16 So when the corporations are looking at, do
17 we build a nice, new, shiny building downtown or do we go
18 to Clayton or some other areas west, now they're thinking
19 more about staying downtown. So we do think --
20 MR. MCNARY: So you think it is going --
21 MR. CRIM: The short answer is yes.
22 MR. MCNARY: Well, that was a long answer.
23 What about conventions and corporate
24 meetings, do you think, especially with the repeal of loss
25 limits, that you'll be able to attract more conventions?
101
1 MR. CRIM: Yeah, we're very excited about
2 that. The general manager for Lumiere Place has a very
3 good working relationship -- that's Todd George -- with
4 our head of Convention and Visitors, Katie -- Kitty
5 Ratliff (phonetic sp.), and that type of relationship has
6 been very good, because he knows what kinds of conventions
7 she's trying to bring to town.
8 We can put together with the Partnership for
9 Downtown St. Louis, with the Regional Chamber for Growth
10 Association, packages to try to attract conventions to
11 Downtown St. Louis. And then we all can be alert to
12 conventions that are coming and then put our best foot
13 forward to make it a great experience for them.
14 MR. MCNARY: Now, if I had your job, which
15 is economic development, and I saw the potential that --
16 because of Lumiere and that new riverfront activity, I
17 would be beating up on the mayor and on the police chief
18 regularly to make sure there is security down there.
19 Are you doing that?
20 MR. CRIM: And I'm glad you brought that up.
21 As you are aware -- you know, you guys had a
22 recent meeting with the mayor and with the police chief,
23 in which they committed to working together with the
24 Gaming Commission, as well as with Laclede's Landing,
25 Lumiere Place and some of the other business owners in the
102
1 area, to make sure that it is a very safe environment and
2 a very pleasant environment to attract, as you mentioned,
3 conventioneers, as well as residents, who want to use the
4 area.
5 So it's very important to us. And so we
6 have been working on -- we have a number of things that
7 we're trying to work on to improve the security and safety
8 in the area.
9 One is lighting. And so our Streets
10 Department has replaced a number of lights in the area,
11 has actually erected a number of poles in the area to
12 increase lighting in the area.
13 Working with the police to increase patrols,
14 also working with Laclede's Landing to increase secondary,
15 which is, you know, police working overtime in the area.
16 And we're just looking for all kinds of
17 ways. There are parking lots in the area, privately owned
18 parking lots, that we're trying to work on identifying
19 what the issues are and then bringing kind of enforcement
20 mechanisms to address those issues, including lighting,
21 security, having attendants on duty throughout the evening
22 and so on.
23 MR. MCNARY: You lost -- the City lost
24 Gaslight Square, where the Landing has suffered. You're
25 not going to make that mistake again. Is that what I hear
103
1 you saying?
2 MR. CRIM: Well, Gaslight Square -- and for
3 those of you who aren't familiar with Gaslight Square, it
4 was an entertainment district in St. Louis going back a
5 number of years. And that area has been redeveloped into
6 pretty much high-end housing, that has extended what was
7 kind of more limited boundaries of the Central West End,
8 to make it actually broader.
9 I mean, it actually turned out to be a great
10 success with that, what was Gaslight Square, reutilizing
11 that property for housing and so on.
12 We are very conscious, making sure that we
13 don't take what has been this great asset, this great
14 unique feature of Lumiere Place, plus a combination with
15 Laclede's Landing, having this great asset be, you know,
16 tainted by security and, you know, people who want to
17 commit crimes.
18 So we're definitely going to be on it, and
19 we're definitely on it now.
20 MR. MCNARY: Thank you.
21 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Any other questions?
22 COMMISSIONER JONES: A question -- really
23 the same questions for Lumiere/President as I have for
24 Ameristar, your commitment to minority participation.
25 And I do believe Mr. Felton was at that same
104
1 meeting in Jeff City, where he also made the commitment,
2 too, because the food service was the largest opportunity
3 for minority and women to enter, and I do believe that he
4 also made the commitment to reach out to minority women
5 businesses and women in the food service industry.
6 The numbers that I see are -- you know, I
7 think there could be, and I'm pretty sure as an
8 indication, that there is room for improvement.
9 And, again, I'm hearing complaints that when
10 they reach out to -- again, as I mentioned it with the
11 previous presentation, I hear complaints that I'm not
12 getting the call backs or I attend the fairs and I'm
13 handing out business cards, et cetera, et cetera,
14 et cetera.
15 So I'm just looking for a commitment and
16 assuring that minorities have the opportunity to engage in
17 the properties down there.
18 My next comment is, Mr. George, what is your
19 relationship with your neighbors now on Laclede Landing?
20 I mean, you know, and that's the Laclede --
21 MR. GEORGE: Merchants Association.
22 COMMISSIONER JONES: Right, Association.
23 MR. GEORGE: We have an ever-improving
24 relationship. I think what we're trying --
25 COMMISSIONER JONES: Ever improving?
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1 MR. GEORGE: Correct.
2 COMMISSIONER JONES: Okay.
3 MR. GEORGE: You know, I think the
4 challenges in the beginning were, you know, trying to gain
5 control of that area and make it secure for everybody.
6 And I think what -- and a lot of this is in
7 our presentation. That is why I was actually coming up,
8 to see if you guys wanted to go through the presentation
9 first, and a lot of Mr. McNary's questions were also in
10 there about security.
11 But I can answer this question.
12 We have a meeting at least once a month with
13 several members of the Landing Association, including John
14 Clark. Sometimes Mr. Clark is not able to be present, so
15 we actually meet with the other members down there,
16 St. Louis Parking, with the force.
17 We have tried to work with them to make sure
18 that their lots are safe and well lit and secure and well
19 attended and they keep an attendant there at all times.
20 I think the crime challenges in Downtown
21 St. Louis are well documented. It, you know, still ranks
22 No. 4, if you buy into those rankings, as downtowns go.
23 And, frankly, when there was a big push down
24 in our area to move -- to move a lot of police presence
25 down there, it seemed like it just moved the criminal
106
1 activity elsewhere, whether it was to Lafayette Square or
2 around the Dome during football games.
3 So it's -- you know, it's a matter of a
4 full-city approach, not just down on Laclede's Landing,
5 not just down at Lumiere.
6 The most productive meeting we had with
7 Laclede's Landing was when we asked the question -- I
8 actually asked -- how many of the establishment owners or
9 managers are paying off-duty police officers to be there.
10 And I think on any given weekend there were
11 20 to 25 off-duty police officers working the door for
12 security and checking IDs and underage drinking.
13 When you start looking at the size of the
14 off-duty police officers in the Landing, that would be the
15 most police coverage the city had in any given area, in
16 any given district.
17 So trying to work with them to actually have
18 them look at things not as individuals but as a collective
19 of business owners and make sure that the entire area can
20 be perceived as being safe by having that police presence
21 there is one of the challenges we're working through and
22 trying to help them with.
23 You know, we at Lumiere spent probably about
24 $3 million in security and surveillance payroll alone.
25 That is more than any Pinnacle property. Unfortunately,
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1 our revenues are not more than any Pinnacle property.
2 So, you know, we are taking this very
3 seriously. And the Commissioners have been involved,
4 including yourself, in meeting with the City.
5 And it's going to take a -- very much a
6 collaborative effort between the City, the Landing
7 Association and ourselves. And Rodney Crim and I speak at
8 least two to three times a week.
9 COMMISSIONER JONES: Have you guys joined
10 the Association?
11 MR. GEORGE: We've always been a member of
12 the Association.
13 Our association actually runs through
14 Lumiere. We pay a fee every quarter.
15 I was also informed through various sources
16 that the Landing Association wasn't happy with our
17 participation; but as Jerry explained, as Mr. Riffel
18 explained, the CID that we're setting up is another
19 $365,000 that we're putting in down there for the overall
20 security of the area.
21 So in addition to giving money to the
22 Landing Association, we're also spending another 365,000
23 on top of the 3 million that we're spending.
24 And that's not counting the surveillance
25 equipment that we've installed at all areas that not only
108
1 cover Lumiere but also part of the Landing and the landing
2 entrances, the directional signage leading up to the
3 Landing.
4 There's -- you know, the list, as we start
5 going through this for the Landing, I think there were
6 some incorrect notions out there that we hadn't really
7 done as much as -- as much as our expenditures showed us
8 that we had done.
9 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Would you also be willing
10 to work with John Nathan to complete --
11 MR. GEORGE: Absolutely.
12 CHAIRMAN SHULL: -- the schedule of all your
13 minority purchases last year?
14 MR. GEORGE: When Mr. Nathan stops by,
15 myself and Charles Felton and Mac Carheel, who are in the
16 audience today, sit down with him and go through all of
17 the information.
18 And what Charles and Mac have been able to
19 do is kind of look at a best-practice approach from other
20 jurisdictions on how we can make this process continue to
21 grow and become, you know, self-sustaining and also make
22 sure that we can incubate minority businesses, women-owned
23 businesses to where they can continue to grow.
24 CHAIRMAN SHULL: We would like to know what
25 you did last year --
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1 MR. GEORGE: Absolutely.
2 CHAIRMAN SHULL: -- by name, address,
3 product --
4 MR. GEORGE: Yes.
5 CHAIRMAN SHULL: -- telephone number.
6 MR. GEORGE: Absolutely.
7 MR. CRIM: I was just going to make one
8 other comment that I missed on our conversation on
9 security.
10 We are fortunate enough to get a Homeland
11 Security Grant that will allow us to put a number of
12 cameras in the broader area. And so we anticipate that
13 those cameras will be up and functioning by the spring,
14 and those -- and that's working in coordination with the
15 police department, and they will be able to monitor all of
16 those cameras.
17 MR. GEORGE: Also, our surveillance
18 director, as part of that project, is providing input as
19 to how they should be installed, what they should be
20 looking at, where they should be monitored.
21 COMMISSIONER JONES: Will the police
22 department and also your security down there, everyone can
23 look at the cameras at the same time or look at the
24 footage?
25 MR. GEORGE: These cameras, some will be
110
1 routed to us and some will be routed to the police
2 department to ensure that we have 24-hour coverage.
3 COMMISSIONER JONES: Okay.
4 MR. MCNARY: Mr. George, do you have any
5 idea how much Pinnacle is paying for security just on your
6 premises?
7 MR. GEORGE: Yeah. For us it's slightly
8 over 3 million now. The November numbers I think will
9 start looking at a number of about 3.3 to 3.4 million in
10 payroll for security and surveillance payroll.
11 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Crim, that's a lot of
12 dough, and it's time for the City to step up. I'd like to
13 see in the St. Louis Post Dispatch tomorrow a headline
14 that says that City is ready to secure the Landing and the
15 Riverfront. Is that a fair --
16 MR. CRIM: The City is working with, like
17 you mentioned yourself, the Gaming Commission. You guys
18 have been present at some of those meetings with Lumiere,
19 with the Laclede's Landing, to improve security in that
20 whole broader area.
21 COMMISSIONER JONES: Are you using the
22 ordinances for those parking facilities out there?
23 Because I think that's where, if Mr. George
24 and his staff have X number of acreage covered, you have
25 those parking lots that are on that far north end that
111
1 sometimes -- you know, and I know even during the game
2 they aren't manned.
3 We have ordinances, don't we, in the City of
4 St. Louis to enforce those?
5 MR. CRIM: That's what we're utilizing now
6 is reviewing those ordinances, reviewing the specific
7 privately owned parking lots and then working through
8 enforcement mechanisms for those private lots.
9 There are some lots that are not paved and
10 aren't properly secured. And, again, as you mentioned,
11 the parking lot to the north of the project are the
12 primary lots that we're specifically concerned about
13 addressing first.
14 The first that we've done kind of on kind of
15 the immediate items, as I mentioned, are putting the
16 lights up, put barricades around some of these lots and so
17 on. So all of that has happened within the last few
18 weeks.
19 COMMISSIONER JONES: Because I concur with
20 Mr. McNary. $3 million is a lot. If you want to find
21 those guys, do something, enforcing those ordinances.
22 You're going to continue to have issues down on that far
23 end.
24 MR. GEORGE: Yes.
25 MR. CRIM: And, again, we're trying to
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1 address those issues.
2 CHAIRMAN SHULL: I have one other question.
3 You indicated your turnover has dropped from
4 36 percent last year to 20 percent this year, and I'd like
5 to know the number of employees that you had at the end of
6 2007 and the number that you have today.
7 MR. STROBBE: Excellent question,
8 Commissioner.
9 You know, with the opening of Lumiere -- we
10 were up around 550 employees in 2006. We've lost about
11 150 to Lumiere. So there has been a tremendous
12 relationship with that. So -- and it's working. We did
13 have a reduction in force, but we're continuously, you
14 know, working with Lumiere.
15 CHAIRMAN SHULL: So you've lost 150 to
16 Lumiere. How many -- what is your head count now?
17 MR. STROBBE: About 290.
18 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Okay. Thank you.
19 Any other questions?
20 Thank you, Chris.
21 MR. GODFREY: Mr. Jones, I didn't want your
22 overall question to be unaddressed regarding our
23 commitment to MWBE hiring practices.
24 We're very strongly committed to that. And
25 with respect to any complaints that you receive, we would
113
1 also appreciate that those individuals or companies
2 contact Mr. McNary or Mr. Nathan and pass those complaints
3 on, and we can communicate with Commission Staff and try
4 to address any complaints.
5 COMMISSIONER JONES: All right. Thank you.
6 MR. GODFREY: We'd be happy to present the
7 Lumiere presentation now in conjunction --
8 CHAIRMAN SHULL: I think we're going to go
9 ahead and conclude this one and then do Lumiere next.
10 Are there any public comments?
11 MR. RIFFEL: That completes our
12 presentation.
13 MR. HINKLE: My name is Don Hinkle. I am
14 here on behalf of the half million Southern Baptists
15 across the state of Missouri and our 2,000 affiliated
16 churches within the Missouri Baptist Convention.
17 And I thank the Commission for the
18 opportunity to speak to you today.
19 And I would urge you to consider as you
20 ponder the relicensing that you also consider Pinnacle's
21 apparent plans to build yet another casino in North
22 St. Louis County.
23 Missouri casinos just spent an estimated
24 17 million --
25 CHAIRMAN SHULL: I think that's
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1 irrelevant --
2 MR. HINKLE: No, sir, I --
3 CHAIRMAN SHULL: -- to this licensing
4 currently that we're considering.
5 MR. HINKLE: Okay. Right. And let me
6 explain why I do believe it is. Because I think it
7 represents a basic business philosophy that quite frankly
8 the citizens of Missouri would be very concerned about.
9 CHAIRMAN SHULL: I think the citizens of
10 Missouri have just spoken recently. And if you have other
11 comments about the licensing, but the moving of the casino
12 is out of order for right now.
13 MR. HINKLE: All right, sir.
14 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, if there is no
15 other public comment, the investigative summary will be
16 presented by Sergeant Dave Leitman.
17 SERGEANT LEITMAN: Good morning,
18 Mr. Chairman, Commissioners. I'm a little gun shy to
19 stand up here, but hopefully I can answer your questions.
20 On September 15th, 2008 the President
21 Riverboat Casino - Missouri, Inc., doing business as
22 President Casino, submitted a relicensing application for
23 their Class B riverboat gaming license which will expire
24 on December the 19th.
25 The President Riverboat Casino - Missouri,
115
1 Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pinnacle
2 Entertainment.
3 Background investigators of the Missouri
4 Gaming Commission -- excuse me.
5 Background investigators of the Missouri
6 State Highway Patrol's Gaming Division, assisted by Gaming
7 Commission staff, conducted an investigation into the
8 suitability of the President to continue to operate as a
9 Class B riverboat licensee.
10 The investigation included criminal,
11 financial and general character inquiries of the key and
12 Level I personnel, as well as contacts with the city,
13 State and Federal agencies that have regulatory authority
14 over the President Casino.
15 In addition to that, an extensive financial
16 review was conducted by Martha LeMond, the Chief Financial
17 Analyst, relative to the President Casino as an
18 entity or a license-- Class B licensee, in addition to the
19 overall company, Pinnacle Entertainment.
20 The findings of the investigation were
21 provided to you, the Gaming Staff and are before you in
22 your notebooks, I believe.
23 Any questions?
24 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions?
25 SERGEANT LEITMAN: Thank you very much.
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1 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, based on
2 Mr. Crim's commitment to security in the City of
3 St. Louis, Staff recommends relicensing.
4 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there a motion to
5 approve?
6 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: A motion to approve
7 Resolution 08-117.
8 COMMISSIONER JONES: Second.
9 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
10 seconded.
11 Is there further discussion?
12 Hearing none, call the roll, please.
13 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
14 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
15 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
16 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
17 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
18 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
19 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
20 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
21 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
22 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
23 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
24 Resolution No. 08-117.
25 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Before we proceed, we're
117
1 going to take about a 15-minute break.
2 (A RECESS WAS TAKEN.)
3 CHAIRMAN SHULL: We'll be back in session
4 now.
5 And, Mr. McNary, if you want to go ahead and
6 proceed with Lumiere Place.
7 MR. MCNARY: Lumiere Place will be the same
8 cast of characters: Todd George, Jack Godfrey and Jerry
9 Riffel, as well as distinguished Rodney Crim.
10 MR. GEORGE: Commissioners, Mr. McNary.
11 I'd like to call up a couple people that I
12 work with every day. Bob Oldani is our Director of
13 Security, Charles Felton is our Director of Procurement
14 and Mac Carheel is our Director of Recruiting.
15 We'll be available to answer any questions
16 that we have not covered during the President session,
17 including the extra security provided by the City of
18 St. Louis which Rodney addressed earlier.
19 2008 has been a challenging year for
20 everybody with this economy. I read the other day that
21 we're in a recession. I think we already kind of knew
22 that.
23 But I think for us it's basically going
24 through a lengthy opening period. It's been about a ten-
25 or eleven-month opening for us.
118
1 Our adjusted gross receipts, you can see
2 projected were 152 million. We did about 133 million.
3 Admissions were down -- admissions were actually up over
4 projections, and then our taxes were actually down
5 slightly. A lot of it was made up on the admissions.
6 The main responsibility for this again is
7 the economy and also the extended opening, which we'll get
8 into in a second.
9 This is by month. It just kind of goes
10 through, again, kind of showing some seasonality in there,
11 a lot of this tying in with what Mr. McNary referenced
12 earlier.
13 We find that we actually are able to draw a
14 lot more visitation during heavy convention months,
15 typically being your May and June and July months, also
16 coinciding with baseball season, when there is a lot going
17 on downtown.
18 Our market share has been fairly steady, at
19 about 15.4 percent, some uptake again in the summer months
20 and trending back down to the end of the summer. There is
21 a lot of great competition with Harrah's and Ameristar and
22 across the river with the product that they have over
23 there.
24 You can see with Ameristar's hotel opening,
25 we actually were able to somewhat hold our own and kind of
119
1 leveling everything out.
2 Capital investment, it's pretty widely
3 publicized. It's $507 million. That figure does not
4 include Hotel Lumiere. Hotel Lumiere improvements alone
5 were about 16.7 million.
6 That 507 is really comprised of all of these
7 things: On 12-19 the property opened. The property
8 included the casino floor, the buffet, Pete's Coffee, Asia
9 Restaurant, Burger Bar. Retail stores opened on 2-5 and
10 Hotel Lumiere opened, 295 rooms and the atrium. The Four
11 Seasons opened on 2-11. That included 200 rooms, the spa,
12 the fitness center and their Cello Restaurant. Sleek then
13 opened on 3-3. House of Savoy, which is the refurbished
14 restaurant in Hotel Lumiere, opened on 3-3.
15 The east parking lot, which was one of our
16 biggest revenue drivers, having adequate, ample, safe
17 parking, opened at the end of March, and then the tunnel
18 opened around Memorial Day weekend.
19 The meeting rooms opened on 7-12. The
20 waterfall and the rest of the atrium was finished in
21 August. And then the Lumiere Theatre opened, which seats
22 approximately 450 people.
23 And really the only thing we have yet
24 remaining on the initial Phase I of this project is the
25 Hotel Lumiere Pool and Fitness Center, which is being
120
1 worked on as we speak.
2 The payroll and benefit expense. Lumiere
3 and Hotel Lumiere, for the first ten months, salaries and
4 wages were approximately $25 million. I e-mailed back,
5 and the payroll for security and surveillance was 3.378,
6 taxing benefits were 10 million, and then our current
7 employees are 1,289.
8 We have a very diversified workforce as
9 well. Our employee demographics, 47 percent
10 African-American, 42 percent Caucasian and 54 percent and
11 46 percent male and female.
12 The management demographics, 72 percent
13 Caucasian, 17 percent African-American and 64 and 36 male
14 and female.
15 This is showing it a little bit
16 differently. This includes not only directors and
17 managers but all salaried professionals.
18 Salary professionals would include things
19 like VIP hosts, player development hosts, table
20 supervisors, slot supervisors, administrative positions,
21 things like that. So it's little different way to look at
22 it.
23 Residency by state. Being right on the
24 border, we still have 62 percent of our employees reside
25 in Missouri, with 38 percent in Illinois.
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1 How do we go about attracting this
2 workforce? We worked a lot with SLITE (phonetic sp.), the
3 St. Louis agency on training and employment. Mac set up
4 job fairs, interview, workshops. We used Americas Center.
5 We used some of the community colleges. We worked with
6 the International Institute, St. Louis Community, Missouri
7 Black Expo. We had a food fair, worked out in the county,
8 National Urban League, Pinnacle Construction Career Day,
9 during the construction phase, looking at people for our
10 facilities and engineers, and then offering numerous
11 dealer schools before and after opening.
12 We created partnerships with all of the
13 major universities around, including getting several of
14 our food and beverage candidates from the culinary
15 institute that is located here. I worked with the
16 community colleges as well, and the tech schools.
17 We continue to see positive improvement in
18 our MBE/WBE numbers. We meet, again, quarterly with John
19 Nathan.
20 And you can see, in Quarter One MB was
21 11 percent, Quarter Two was 17.7 percent and Quarter Three
22 was almost at the 20 percent figure.
23 WB, 14.7, 2.97 and 2.6, with the totals
24 below that.
25 So currently in Quarter Three we are up to
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1 22.59 percent in total.
2 And how do we do that? The next slide.
3 Basically, again, this is what I touched on
4 earlier. We've been working diligently with Rodney and
5 several of his group, but also the Airport Certification
6 Group, networking events with Charles and his purchasing
7 agents, and we've had several vendor fairs, both on site
8 and at Americas Center, meet-and-greet gatherings that we
9 are sponsors of.
10 We've contacted over 500 minority vendors
11 through certified mail and 800 by e-mail blast. We adjust
12 payment terms to provide flexibility, knowing that cash
13 flow for smaller business is a challenge. And then we
14 always include one minority vendor on every bid over $500.
15 We spend money advertising in newspapers,
16 Urban League Expo and a variety of networking seminars.
17 Our participation in the community, being
18 the first year, our contributions are almost half a
19 million dollars now, $483,000.
20 And then we also get involved in charitable
21 contributions in the region, such as the Race for the
22 Cure, the Alzheimer's Association, The Boys and Girls
23 Club, Father/Son Support Center and Payback.
24 We've also provided furniture to the victims
25 of the 2008 floods. A lot of the furniture came out of
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1 the remodeled Hotel Lumiere, went to these, these
2 individuals, as well as the St. Patrick Center, which is
3 kind of a homeless shelter and helps people get back on
4 their feet and land jobs and works a lot with disabled
5 vets.
6 Security Department. That was a big topic.
7 And Mr. Oldani, who is with me here behind me, is retired
8 from the St. Louis City Police Force, has a great
9 relationship with the police department, and we can
10 continue to communicate with them, if not daily, every
11 other day.
12 We've made some progress. We understand
13 that, you know, all downtown faces this issue, and it's on
14 both sides of the river.
15 But we maintain weekly communications with
16 the Fourth District Commander and Public Relations
17 Officer. And, you know, the crime trend, the public
18 nuisance issue, they provide us with all of the reports.
19 They provide us with anything that is
20 happening around us, so we can be prepared and on the
21 lookout.
22 We, in turn, provide locations for
23 undercover surveillance operations. We provided the roof
24 of our Hotel Lumiere. We've also provided our security
25 podium. We've also allowed them to provide bait cars, or
124
1 shell cars, that are left unlocked with a laptop or an
2 I-Pod or something in there, in an attempt to try to catch
3 the people that are stealing these vehicles or the items
4 in the vehicles.
5 The other things -- and Rodney touched on
6 this earlier. We've had several meetings and actually
7 walked the property and walked the Landing area where we
8 see the crimes happening or the pinch points.
9 The City has responded by repairing and
10 improving street lights, removal of debris from the
11 streets and vacant lights north of Lumiere Place.
12 Again, Commissioner Jones, as you touched
13 on, this is an area of concern for all of us.
14 The City actually was responsible for the
15 demolition of a nearby vacant building, which, you know,
16 we used to have problems with the homeless, and there was
17 actually a homicide in that building. It's actually been
18 cleaned up and it's now a parking lot, and well lit and a
19 fenced parking lot.
20 And then the closure of nearby parking lots
21 not meeting the City code, which also contributes to the
22 crimes against person and property.
23 And that's kind of where we're at now and
24 that's the next big phase for us.
25 The CID, which Mr. Riffel touched on, we
125
1 plan on using this money for improvement lighting in the
2 casino, the hotel, the parking lots. We are installing a
3 guard tower on the parking lot in front of our building
4 and placing it more towards the north end, the
5 surveillance camera monitor in the tower, and additional
6 patrol vehicles.
7 Right now we use bike patrol, golf cart
8 patrol, security vehicle patrol, Highway Patrol and then a
9 foot beat. So we try to cover everything and make sure
10 that we're readily available and can respond quickly.
11 We've also hired additional security
12 officers on overtime to provide additional patrols, and
13 this will be one of the primary reasons for the CID money.
14 The Disassociated Persons Program, again,
15 with loss limits going away and the card requirement going
16 away, we are paying extra close attention and being very
17 diligent to do our best to ensure DAPs are not permitted
18 in the casino.
19 The DAP list is always reviewed prior to
20 cashing checks, reviewed prior to paying jackpots,
21 restricted from any marketing that goes out, and then
22 duplicate accounts are reviewed in the player database.
23 Underage gaming, again, without the card
24 requirement, this has to be maintained as a priority.
25 Security officers are trained to detect fake
126
1 IDs. We do this training internally, but also we work
2 with a certified trainer from AB that comes in and goes
3 over all of the fake IDs and what they look like.
4 And they must be 21 is referenced in all
5 marketing materials, all signage on the property, and we
6 try to check everyone who looks under 30 years old.
7 This, if you can read it, would be a letter
8 from the mayor showing his support, and Rodney touched on
9 this earlier.
10 And then this is actually a letter from
11 Captain Leyshock from the Fourth District, talking about
12 the crime and what they're doing to help us and what we're
13 doing to help them.
14 The Riverside Community Improvement
15 District, again, Mr. Riffel touched on this. It's an
16 extra 365,000 that will be used specifically for that area
17 to improve the security.
18 This is the plot of land, again, extending
19 basically from the President up to Lumiere and everything
20 in between.
21 Just some photos if you want to scroll
22 through these.
23 But this is Lumiere and some of the things
24 that we opened at the time, casino floor, the high-limit
25 area, which now looks different after loss limits, the VIP
127
1 lounge, the kitchen, buffet and bistro and some of the
2 restaurants.
3 So I'm happy to answer any questions, go
4 through any methodology that we used or respond to
5 anything you have.
6 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions?
7 COMMISSIONER JONES: Well, you answered a
8 lot of them during the other presentation.
9 MR. GEORGE: No problem. Thank you very
10 much.
11 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Also, I'd like to point out
12 that I would like for you to work with John Nathan and
13 collect all of the data about your MWBE vendors and list
14 them along with the product they provide and the amount of
15 the annual purchases.
16 MR. GEORGE: Okay.
17 CHAIRMAN SHULL: And we'd like that by the
18 28th of February --
19 MR. GEORGE: Perfect.
20 CHAIRMAN SHULL: -- approximately.
21 MR. GEORGE: Not a problem.
22 CHAIRMAN SHULL: The second thing I had is
23 the same question, I guess.
24 I noticed that in the audits there were many
25 items that were mentioned. We'd like for you to address
128
1 those and tell us how you're proceeding with getting those
2 straightened out and assure us that they will be resolved
3 soon.
4 MR. GEORGE: Absolutely.
5 Christine Lomas is here. She's our
6 Compliance Officer.
7 Christine, if you'd like to address that.
8 MS. LOMAS: I would have to say that, yes,
9 we did have --
10 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Would you like to come up
11 to the mike, please.
12 MR. LOMAS: Hi. My name is Christine Lomas.
13 I'm the Compliance Officer for Lumiere Place.
14 And I would agree, we did have numerous
15 findings, again, being our first year opened, so we were
16 still working out some of our kinks.
17 At this point in time we have worked with
18 most of our departments internally. We are having an
19 audit followup right now that's going through and
20 reviewing some of those initial findings.
21 And for the most part I can speak honestly
22 that we have addressed the findings.
23 There are a couple issues that I am made
24 aware of during the followup that have not fully been
25 rectified, but we are making sure that those have been
129
1 done.
2 CHAIRMAN SHULL: And at what point do you
3 believe that those will all be addressed and resolved, if
4 there is only two outstanding?
5 MS. LOMAS: Our intention would be that
6 everything would be resolved shortly before the end of the
7 year, if not by the end of the year, the few items that
8 still may be outstanding.
9 After that I'm sure that we'll have fully
10 taken care of or have controls put in place by the end of
11 March -- or February. Sorry.
12 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Fine. Thank you.
13 Are there other questions?
14 Thank you.
15 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there anyone for public
16 comment?
17 A presentation by the City of St. Louis. Do
18 they have anything further?
19 MR. CRIM: No. Again, we support the
20 relicensing of Lumiere Place.
21 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, the investigative
22 summary will be handled by Sergeant Steve Akridge.
23 SERGEANT AKRIDGE: Mr. Chairman and
24 Commissioners, on September 15, 2008 the Missouri Gaming
25 Commission received an application from the Casino One
130
1 Corporation, d/b/a as Lumiere Place Casino, for the
2 renewal of their Class B riverboat license and for the
3 purpose of determining their suitability for licensure.
4 Pinnacle Entertainment, Incorporated and
5 Casino One Corporation, doing business as Lumiere Place
6 Casino, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pinnacle
7 Entertainment, Incorporated.
8 The Lumiere Place Casino is a boat in a moat
9 facility. The total square footage for the casino is
10 approximately 75,000 square feet, with approximately 2,000
11 slot machines and 65 table games, in addition to over
12 22,000 square feet of meeting and convention space.
13 The Missouri State Highway Patrol
14 investigators, along with the Gaming Commission employees,
15 conducted a background investigation on Lumiere Place
16 Casino and all associated key persons of the company.
17 The investigation included, but was not
18 limited to, criminal, financial and general character
19 inquiries of all key persons, as well as a comprehensive
20 financial analysis of the company.
21 The results of the investigation were
22 provided to the Gaming Commission staff for their review,
23 and specific details related to those findings are
24 contained within the comprehensive summary report in your
25 possession.
131
1 I would be happy to entertain any questions
2 you may have at this time.
3 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions?
4 Mr. McNary, do you have any?
5 MR. MCNARY: I have no questions.
6 Mr. Chairman, Staff recommends licensure --
7 with the Commission's indulgence, you may recall that
8 their license was a conditional license based on the
9 restraining rods and ABS and signoff.
10 ABS has signed off that the conditions
11 should be removed, and I would ask that we'd be given a
12 few minutes to correct the title.
13 Instead of relicensure, that it would be the
14 removal of the condition and a license for a year, and
15 take care of both situations, and then we'll have it back
16 to you to vote on later on in the agenda.
17 COMMISSIONER HAIS: What about if he did it
18 verbally as he just did, as he just indicated, and you
19 gave him leave to submit the written version shortly --
20 CHAIRMAN SHULL: That's fine.
21 COMMISSIONER HAIS: -- at his earliest
22 convenience?
23 MR. MCNARY: That will be fine.
24 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Mr. Riffel.
25 MR. RIFFEL: Mr. Chairman, in addition, in
132
1 September of '07 the parties determined to sign an
2 indemnity agreement, in which Pinnacle indemnified the
3 State, the Commission, its officers and employees as to
4 any claim or damage that might occur as a result of the
5 strain gauges, and it would be appropriate now to
6 acknowledge the fact that that indemnity agreement should
7 be terminated.
8 MR. MCNARY: We concur.
9 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Thank you.
10 MR. RIFFEL: Thank you very much.
11 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Do you have a motion?
12 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Just to clarify, though,
13 Mr. Riffel. Sorry. If I may.
14 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Go ahead.
15 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Do you mean terminate
16 it --
17 MR. RIFFEL: Prospectively.
18 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Okay. All right.
19 Thanks.
20 COMMISSIONER JONES: We have two motions
21 that we have to make for the --
22 COMMISSIONER HAIS: No, I don't think so.
23 MR. MCNARY: We can put -- if you want to
24 just incorporate my comments into the resolution, we'll
25 draw that into it, plus the termination prospectively of
133
1 the indemnity agreement.
2 COMMISSIONER HAIS: All right.
3 CHAIRMAN SHULL: And you indicated this is
4 for one year?
5 MR. MCNARY: That's correct. And then it
6 will be on a two-year cycle.
7 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Okay.
8 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I would move,
9 Mr. Chairman -- is this 117?
10 MS. FRANKS: 118.
11 COMMISSIONER HAIS: 118. Excuse me.
12 -- to adopt Resolution 08-118, as Mr. McNary
13 verbally indicated, with the alterations of the title as
14 Director McNary indicated on the record, and I think you
15 indicated, Mr. Chairman, you were going to allow him leave
16 to submit that in written version at his earliest
17 convenience, and, also, I believe to amend the termination
18 of the indemnification agreement that was previously
19 mentioned by Mr. Riffel on the record just a moment ago,
20 to include that it is terminated prospectively.
21 COMMISSIONER JONES: Second.
22 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
23 seconded.
24 Is there further discussion?
25 Hearing none, call the roll, please.
134
1 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
2 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
3 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
4 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
5 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
6 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
7 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
8 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
9 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
10 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
11 CHAIRMAN SHULL: By your vote you have
12 adopted Resolution 08-118.
13 MR. MCNARY: The next item, Mr. Chairman, is
14 Consideration of Relicensure of Suppliers.
15 Lieutenant Rex Scism will make the
16 presentation.
17 LIEUTENANT SCISM: Good afternoon,
18 Mr. Chairman, Commissioners.
19 Missouri State Highway Patrol investigators
20 conducted the relicensing investigation of two supplier
21 companies currently licensed in Missouri. These
22 investigations consisted of jurisdictional inquiries,
23 feedback from affected gaming company clients, a review of
24 disciplinary actions, litigation and business credit
25 profiles, as well as a review of key persons associated
135
1 with each company.
2 The results of these investigations were
3 provided to the MGC staff for their review, and the
4 following supplier companies are being presented for your
5 consideration.
6 First on the list is Atlantic City Coin &
7 Slot Service, Pleasantville, New Jersey.
8 MR. MCNARY: Staff recommends approval.
9 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there a motion?
10 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Motion to approve
11 Resolution 08-119.
12 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Second.
13 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
14 seconded.
15 Is there further discussion?
16 Hearing none, call the roll, please.
17 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
18 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
19 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
20 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
21 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
22 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
23 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
24 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
25 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
136
1 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
2 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
3 Resolution 08-119.
4 LIEUTENANT SCISM: And the second company up
5 for relicensure is Western Money Systems, Sparks, Nevada.
6 MR. MCNARY: Staff recommends approval.
7 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there a motion?
8 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I move to adopt
9 Commission Resolution 08-120, Mr. Chairman.
10 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Second.
11 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
12 seconded.
13 Is there further discussion?
14 Hearing none, call the roll.
15 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
16 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
17 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
18 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
19 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
20 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
21 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
22 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
23 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
24 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
25 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
137
1 Resolution No. 08-120.
2 MR. MCNARY: Item VIII on the agenda,
3 Mr. Chairman, is Consideration of Licensure of a Certain
4 Supplier. That's GLI. And Sergeant George Hamilton will
5 make the presentation.
6 SERGEANT HAMILTON: Mr. Chairman,
7 Commissioners, on April 8, 2008 Gaming Laboratories
8 International, Incorporated, hereinafter referred to as
9 GLI, applied for a supplier's license with the Missouri
10 Gaming Commission for the purpose of determining their
11 suitability for licensure.
12 GLI is currently a privately held
13 corporation, organized under the incorporation laws of the
14 State of New Jersey in 1989.
15 GLI provides independent gaming device and
16 casino system testing and technical consulting to gaming
17 regulatory jurisdictions throughout the world.
18 Services provided to regulators include
19 comprehensive testing on all types of gaming systems, on-
20 site inspections and certifications, forensic
21 examinations, consulting and training services.
22 Missouri Highway Patrol investigators, along
23 with Gaming Commission financial investigators, conducted
24 a background investigation on GLI and all associated key
25 persons of the company.
138
1 The investigation included, but was not
2 limited to, criminal, financial and general character
3 inquiries of all key persons, as well as a comprehensive
4 financial analysis of the company.
5 The results of this investigation were
6 provided to the Gaming Commission staff for their review,
7 and specific details related to those findings are
8 contained within the comprehensive summary report in your
9 possession.
10 I would be happy to answer any questions.
11 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions?
12 MR. MCNARY: Staff recommends licensure.
13 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there a motion?
14 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Motion to approve
15 Commission Resolution 08-121.
16 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Second.
17 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
18 seconded.
19 Is there further discussion?
20 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Hearing none, call the
21 roll.
22 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
23 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
24 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
25 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
139
1 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
2 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
3 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
4 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
5 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
6 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
7 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
8 Resolution No. 08-121.
9 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, the Chief
10 Executive Officer for GLI is here and would like to make a
11 couple comments, brief comments.
12 MR. MAIDA: Good morning, Mr. Chairman,
13 members of the Commission. I'll make my comments as brief
14 as I can.
15 I want to thank you for your action this
16 morning on our license and introduce myself. I have not
17 been to Jefferson City in some time, even though I see
18 your staff around the world.
19 It's truly been a privilege to serve the
20 Gaming Commission over the last 14 years, and we've served
21 every previous Commission and staff, and were around when
22 they actually adopted the first bill, which was a skill-
23 based game, if you remember back, that far back in the
24 1990s.
25 We currently serve 450 gaming regulatory
140
1 agencies around the world, obviously this one as well. In
2 five continents we have 13 offices. We just opened our
3 latest office last evening in Macau, and later in January
4 we'll be opening a presence here in Kansas City, Missouri,
5 because it makes some sense of being halfway across the
6 country, really, being the crossroads.
7 But I'm not here to talk about GLI. I want
8 to just have some comments today about the staff that we
9 deal with.
10 I want to acknowledge the people that we
11 deal with on the gaming equipment side which so often goes
12 unnoticed.
13 But Clarence Greeno, Todd Nelson and Blaine
14 Preston I can assure you are known by regulators around
15 the world by being some of the most technical staff that
16 any gaming regulatory has on their bodies when we look at
17 it in conjunction.
18 They not only provide training to
19 regulators, but they also receive training from GLI. But
20 many regulators around the world rely on them to figure
21 out what to do in their own jurisdiction. So I wanted to
22 acknowledge them this morning.
23 In short, we support you not only from our
24 New Jersey office but from our Denver office, and I just
25 wanted to come here today to tell you in short, they
141
1 really get it. This staff really understands the
2 technology.
3 And it can be seen that Missouri is not
4 given much credit in terms of technology, but I wanted to
5 come here today and say that you were the first with loss-
6 limit technology. You were the first to figure out how
7 to -- when they said it couldn't be done -- to put loss
8 limit on the slot machine. You-all did it. You were the
9 first that significantly put TI/TO, ticket-in/ticket-out,
10 on your machines.
11 You were the first State agency with KIOSKS
12 and to be able to use KIOSKS in a regulated way, and you
13 were the first State gaming agency to allow server-based
14 gaming on a limited-trial basis, which was done here in
15 St. Louis.
16 With that said, I did want to raise some
17 consciousness this morning before I leave town and
18 hopefully see you again next year about the movement of
19 technology and how quick it's going to be over the next
20 12 months.
21 Recently you eliminated loss limit, which
22 will open up lots of new technology that before was not
23 available to you because loss limits restricted some
24 certain technology.
25 Technology is also moving faster than we've
142
1 ever seen. So some of the areas that we're looking at,
2 not only for this jurisdiction but for those around the
3 world, are electronic table games, server-based gaming,
4 where you have TV media and Internet pumped into the slot
5 machine, where it will be a multi-media experience,
6 wireless technology and systems, mobile handheld gaming,
7 cashless wagering and funds transfer, where people may no
8 longer come to the casino with money.
9 They will gamble through a cashless medium,
10 which will require a significant level of testing, a
11 significant level of technology and a significant level in
12 terms of staff understanding it.
13 That is why, as I said, we've hired more
14 than 150 people worldwide over the last 18 months. We're
15 still hiring today because technology is changing so fast
16 that you have to have key groups of people helping out the
17 staff here and around the world.
18 The other thing I raise your thought process
19 to is new technology to assist with problem gaming, to
20 assist with underage gaming.
21 And, lastly, as all of the games on the
22 casino floor become networked, you're going to need to
23 start considering -- and I know Missouri has been a leader
24 on this, having -- certain of the casinos have had
25 security assessments done, but you will need to think
143
1 about hacking and network security and network intrusion
2 and can someone access slot machines over the network.
3 Because everything will be truly a linked
4 floor, where today it is not so linked, and it's going
5 forward.
6 So I wanted to just say that that's our view
7 of where technology is going. I wanted to come here -- I
8 came a long way. I want to thank you for your license
9 action this morning. I look forward to seeing each of you
10 somewhere, and, again, my kudos to the staff who I see all
11 over the world at our respective, and I thought I would be
12 remiss if I didn't come up here and say that this morning.
13 Thank you very much for your time, and I'll
14 take questions if anybody wants to ask any.
15 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Thank you very much.
16 MR. MCNARY: The next item, Mr. Chairman, is
17 Atronic Americas LLC, and Corporal Jim Bennett will make
18 a presentation.
19 CORPORAL BENNETT: Good morning,
20 Commissioners. Good afternoon.
21 Before I begin, I'd just like to point out
22 on the agenda that I will be covering Items S through W.
23 They're all kind of -- they're all related.
24 At the various times over the past three
25 years the Missouri Gaming Commission has received supplier
144
1 applications from Atronic Americas LLC, an electronic
2 gaming device supplier, and key business entity
3 applications from each of the following companies:
4 GTECH Corporation, Lottomatica S.p.A., De Agostini S.p.A.
5 and B&D Holding di Marco Drago s.a.p.a., which through a
6 hierarchy of ownership owns Atronic.
7 The reason for the various application
8 submissions has to do with various buyouts and
9 restructuring of the aforementioned companies.
10 Atronic Americas was previously granted a
11 supplier license by the Missouri Gaming Commission on
12 February 17, 1998. However, as a result of the buy-out by
13 GTECH, Atronic has been functioning on a temporary license
14 for the past few months.
15 In March 2008 the Missouri State Highway
16 Patrol's Background Unit, along with the Missouri Gaming
17 Commission's financial investigators, commenced on the
18 arduous task of investigating the five companies and their
19 35 key entity -- or key persons.
20 Since the investigation began two of the key
21 persons withdrew their applications due to the
22 realignments of the companies.
23 The investigation involved contacting
24 regulatory, governmental and law enforcement officials
25 throughout the United States, the Netherlands, France,
145
1 Italy, Germany, Austria and Canada.
2 The results of the investigation were
3 provided to the Missouri Gaming Commission staff for their
4 review, and a copy of the investigation report should be
5 in your possession.
6 If you have any questions, I'll be happy to
7 entertain them at this point.
8 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Are there any questions?
9 Thank you.
10 CORPORAL BENNETT: Thank you.
11 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, this was an
12 extensive investigation, took these investigators all over
13 Europe. We recommend approval.
14 CHAIRMAN SHULL: We have a motion on --
15 MR. ORCHARD: Excuse me. Good afternoon,
16 Commission. My name is Luke Orchard. I'm the
17 Vice-President of Compliance for GTECH Corporation and the
18 Chief Compliance Officer for Lottomatica Group.
19 I just have a couple of comments just to add
20 about the investigation.
21 I would like to make mention and again
22 acknowledge -- the investigation that took place into our
23 group, as you no doubt are already aware, this was a --
24 the size and complexity of our group would not be a simple
25 investigation. So this was no small undertaking.
146
1 So I would just like to make special mention
2 also of the investigators that were assigned to the
3 investigation: Bill Fox, Dave Leitman, Steve Akridge,
4 Larry Stitz and Jim Bennett, and thank them for their
5 professionalism and efficiency through the process.
6 Thank you.
7 MR. MCNARY: Thanks very much. Well said
8 and we appreciate the comments.
9 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Can we do these all at once
10 since they're related?
11 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Do you have any
12 objection to that?
13 MR. MCNARY: No.
14 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I would move,
15 Mr. Chairman, that we take them as a collective
16 resolution, 122 through 126. Thank you.
17 CHAIRMAN SHULL: The motion has been made.
18 Is there a second?
19 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Second.
20 CHAIRMAN SHULL: There has been a second.
21 Is there further discussion?
22 Hearing none, call the roll.
23 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
24 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
25 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
147
1 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
2 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
3 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
4 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
5 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
6 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
7 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
8 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
9 Resolution Nos. 08-122, 08-123, 08-124, 08-125 and 08-126.
10 MR. MCNARY: Chairman, Item X on the
11 agenda is Licensure of Certain Level/Key Applicants.
12 Lieutenant Rex Scism.
13 LIEUTENANT REX SCISM: Good afternoon again.
14 This is a rather long list. I'll do my best
15 not to butcher these names in case any of the applicants
16 are in the audience today.
17 Mr. Chairman and Commissioners, Missouri
18 State Highway Patrol investigators, along with Gaming
19 Commission financial investigators, conducted background
20 investigations on multiple key person and Level I
21 applicants.
22 The investigations included, but were not
23 limited to, criminal, financial and general character
24 inquiries which were made in the jurisdictions where the
25 applicants lived, worked and frequented.
148
1 The following individuals are being
2 presented for your consideration: Sheleen A. Quish,
3 Ameristar Casinos, Incorporated, Chief Information
4 Officer; Michael D. Cohen, Harrah's Entertainment, Inc.,
5 Vice-President and Secretary; Jon Edmond Kreiser,
6 HGI St. Jo, Incorporated, Safety and Security Manager;
7 Tyler J. Feltz, IOC-Kansas City, Incorporated, MIS
8 Manager; Luke Orchard, Atronic Americas, LLC,
9 Vice-President-Global Compliance; Kenneth Bossingham,
10 Atronic Americas LLC, COO; Gerhard Burda, Atronic Americas
11 LLC, CEO; Donald Reilly, GTECH Corporation, CFO; Jaymin
12 Patel, GTECH Corporation, CEO; Michael Prescott, GTECH
13 Corporation, Senior Vice President/Secretary and General
14 Counsel; Atul Bali, GTECH Corporation, Senior
15 Vice-President-Interactive Gaming and Sports Betting;
16 Victor Duarte, GTECH Corporation, VP-Gaming Solutions;
17 Anthony Watson, GTECH Corporation, VP of Finance and
18 Integration; Donald Sweitzer, GTECH Corporation, Senior VP
19 at Global Development; Stefano Bortoli, Lottomatica,
20 S.p.a., Senior Vice-President/CFO; Marco Sala, Lottomatica
21 S.p.a., Senior VP/General Manager and Managing Director;
22 Paulo Ceretti, Lottomatica, S.p.a., Director; Severino
23 Salvemini, Lottomatica, S.p.a., Director; Gianmario
24 Tonsato da Ruos, Lottomatica, S.p.a., Director; Sir Jeremy
25 Hanley, Lottomatica, S.p.a., Director; Anthony Ruys,
149
1 Lottomatica, S.p.a., Director; James McCann, Lottomatica,
2 S.p.a., Director; William Turner, Lottomatica, S.p.a.,
3 Director; Robert Dewey, Lottomatica, S.p.a., Director;
4 Marco Drago, B & D Holdings, Chairman of the Board;
5 Giorgio Drago, B & D Holdings, General Shareholder;
6 Roberto Drago, B & D Holdings, General Partner; Alberto
7 Boroli, B & D Holdings, General Partner; Andrea Boroli,
8 B & D Holdings, General Partner; Renzo Pelliciolli, B & D
9 Holdings, General Partner; Lino Benassi, B & D Holdings,
10 General Partner; Chiara Boroli, De Agostina, S.p.a.,
11 Director; Marco Boroli, De Agostini, S.p.a., Director;
12 Paolo Boroli, De Agostini, S.p.a., Director; Pietro
13 Boroli, De Agostini, S.p.a., Director; Renzo Ferrante,
14 De Agostini, S.p.a., Director; Paulo Tacchini,
15 De Agostini, Director; James R. Maida, Gaming Laboratories
16 International, CEO; Paul J. Magno, Gaming Laboratories
17 International, Vice-President and Secretary; John W. Grau,
18 Gaming Laboratories International, Director of Engineering
19 for the East Region; Dave L. Daniels, Gaming Laboratories
20 International, Director of Engineering for the Western
21 Region; Christine Gallo, Gaming Laboratories
22 International, Director of Quality Assurance and
23 Compliance; and, finally, Timothy Reigel, Gaming
24 Laboratories International, Director of IT.
25 MR. MCNARY: Excellent job of pronunciation.
150
1 Staff recommends licensure of these Level I
2 key applicants.
3 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there a motion?
4 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Motion to adopt
5 Resolution 08-127.
6 COMMISSIONER JONES: Second.
7 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion has been made and
8 seconded.
9 Is there further discussion?
10 Hearing none, call the roll.
11 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
12 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
13 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
14 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
15 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
16 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
17 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
18 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
19 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
20 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
21 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
22 Resolution 08-127.
23 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, Item VI concerns
24 the -- it's a routine matter at the end of the year to
25 delegate the authority to you, to the chairman, to extend
151
1 a license for 60 days in the case of an emergency.
2 Staff recommends passage of Resolution
3 No. 08-128.
4 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I move the adoption of
5 Commission Resolution 08-128.
6 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Second.
7 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion has been made and
8 seconded.
9 Is there further discussion?
10 Hearing none, call the roll.
11 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
12 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
13 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
14 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
15 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
16 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
17 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
18 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
19 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
20 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
21 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
22 Resolution No. 08-128.
23 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, Item XII concerns
24 Relicensure of Bingo Manufacturers and Suppliers, and
25 Corporal Mike Finnegan will make a presentation.
152
1 CORPORAL FINNEGAN: Mr. Chairman,
2 Commissioners, today I'm presenting several companies for
3 relicensure as suppliers or manufacturers of bingo
4 products in the State of Missouri. You may notice some of
5 the companies mentioned hold dual licenses. The primary
6 difference between relicensing a manufacturer and a
7 supplier is a bond requirement, which is incumbent upon a
8 supplier as they are responsible for paying the tax on
9 items sold.
10 The relicensure of both manufacturers and
11 suppliers includes, but is not limited to, Federal and
12 State tax checks, customer and product lists, corporate
13 organization, gaming license checks, as well as various
14 criminal and financial background checks on each company's
15 key persons.
16 The following four companies have applied
17 for relicensure of their supplier's license: All American
18 Bingo, Bingo Supply Center, GameTech International and
19 Games Galore.
20 MR. MCNARY: Staff recommends approval.
21 CHAIRMAN SHULL: I'm not finding those.
22 COMMISSIONER JONES: Did I miss one?
23 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Okay.
24 Can we consolidate these also?
25 MR. MCNARY: Sure.
153
1 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Do I hear a motion?
2 COMMISSIONER HAIS: I move to adopt
3 Commission Resolutions, as a group, 08-001-B and 08-002-B
4 and 08-003-B.
5 MR. MCNARY: Corporal Finnegan, did you
6 address both of the suppliers?
7 CORPORAL FINNEGAN: I'm sorry. I've got
8 suppliers and then I've got manufacturers, nine separate
9 manufacturers also.
10 MR. MCNARY: Okay. Then we're talking about
11 suppliers at this point.
12 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is that only 08-001?
13 COMMISSIONER HAIS: 001, yes.
14 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there a second?
15 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Second.
16 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion has been made and
17 seconded.
18 Is there further discussion?
19 Hearing none, call the roll.
20 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
21 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
22 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
23 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
24 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
25 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
154
1 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
2 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
3 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
4 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
5 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
6 Resolution No. 08-001-B.
7 CORPORAL FINNEGAN: The following nine
8 companies have applied for licensure of their
9 manufacturer's license: Applied Concepts, Arrow
10 International, Douglas Press, Fortunet, GameTech
11 International, International Gameco, MMG, Pollard Games
12 doing business as American Games, and Universal
13 Manufacturing Company.
14 Thank you.
15 MR. MCNARY: Staff recommends relicensure.
16 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Do I have a motion?
17 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Motion to approve
18 Commission Resolution 08-002-B.
19 COMMISSIONER JONES: Second.
20 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion has been made and
21 seconded.
22 Is there further discussion?
23 Hearing none, call the roll.
24 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
25 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
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1 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
2 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
3 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
4 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
5 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
6 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
7 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
8 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
9 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
10 Resolution No. 08-002-B.
11 MR. MCNARY: Item VIII concerns Licensure of
12 Bingo Manufacturer. Corporal Finnegan.
13 CORPORAL FINNEGAN: Mr. Chairman and
14 Commissioners, Missouri State Patrol investigators
15 conducted background investigations on Les Entreprises
16 Carosielli, Incorporated and the company's associated key
17 person.
18 The investigation included, but was not
19 limited to, Federal and State tax checks, corporate
20 inquiries and criminal and financial background checks on
21 the company's key person.
22 Les Entreprises Carosielli, Incorporated is
23 a manufacturer and distributor of bingo paper which
24 operates out of Montreal Quebec, Canada.
25 The results of this investigation were
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1 provided to the Gaming Commission staff for their review,
2 and you have a summary report before you regarding this
3 applicant.
4 MR. MCNARY: Staff recommends licensure.
5 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Is there a motion?
6 COMMISSIONER JONES: Motion to approve
7 Resolution No. 08-003-B.
8 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Second.
9 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion has been made and
10 seconded.
11 Is there further discussion?
12 Hearing none, call the roll.
13 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
14 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
15 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
16 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
17 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
18 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
19 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
20 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
21 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
22 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
23 MS. FRANKS: By your vote you've adopted
24 Resolution No. 08-003-B.
25 MR. MCNARY: The next item,
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1 Mr. Chairman, is a presentation by Pinnacle, which they've
2 agreed to make on a monthly basis. We appreciate that.
3 And it looks as though Mr. Godfrey and
4 Mr. Riffel are going to make the presentation.
5 MR. GODFREY: Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman,
6 members of the Commission, Mr. McNary and staff. I'm Jack
7 Godfrey, Executive Vice-President, General Counsel and
8 Secretary of Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc., appearing this
9 afternoon with our outside counsel, Jerry Riffel, a
10 partner at Lathrop and Gage.
11 Before I turn it over to Mr. Riffel to go
12 through the slide show, I'd like to thank you for your
13 previous action earlier this morning on the relicensing of
14 Lumiere Place and the President.
15 And I'd also like to indicate that with
16 respect to River City, we are on track currently for a
17 first quarter 2010 opening, subject, of course, to your
18 final licensing.
19 I invite you to visit our web cam at
20 www.pnkinc.com, and you can view the project update on a
21 daily basis.
22 So with that background in mind, I'd like to
23 turn it over to Mr. Riffel who will take us through the
24 slides.
25 MR. RIFFEL: Mr. Chairman, Jerry Riffel.
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1 What I'd like to do, as we did last time, is
2 hand out hard copies. If it's all right, we're not going
3 to do a PowerPoint on this one. We'll just hit the
4 highlights.
5 MR. MCNARY: Do you need the lights down?
6 Are you going to use the screen?
7 MR. RIFFEL: No, sir.
8 As you know, Bob Herr, who helps manage the
9 construction, gave a long report and PowerPoint report
10 last month. Mr. Herr is unavailable today because of a
11 doctor's appointment.
12 This hard copy was prepared by Mr. Herr. It
13 has percentages of completion. The slides I think you
14 will find very impressive.
15 And we continue to make progress. As
16 Mr. Godfrey said, we are on target to be completed in
17 January of 2010.
18 The access road, it might bear repeating, is
19 going to be an incredible accomplishment. It goes all of
20 the way from Interstate 55 to the site.
21 As you'll see, it's divided into three
22 different phases. Phase I is between Interstate 55 and
23 Lemay. Phase II is Lemay to Broadway. And Phase III,
24 III-A and Phase IV, which is the Union Pacific Railroad
25 Bridge, goes from Broadway on into the site.
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1 The most significant development this month
2 is that we're very happy to announce we're going to get
3 off of Hoffmeister, which is basically a residential
4 street, which was during this period of construction
5 really the only access for construction vehicles to the
6 site.
7 And the reason we are is that we've finished
8 the base in Phase III, III-A and IV. We're on the back
9 deck of the Phase IV Union Pacific Bridge.
10 We believe that in January this is going --
11 we're going to be able to use it for construction traffic.
12 So that's a major, major, I think,
13 accomplishment for us.
14 In Phase II, the Kaiser Creek Bridge is
15 structurally complete. We think it will be completed in
16 spring '09. The rock base is in, and the retaining walls
17 are in. And then Phase I, the first phase, the Gravois
18 Creek Bridge, will be finished in February '09. And so we
19 are moving on, just really doing well.
20 As far as site work, if you look at those
21 slides, the site work -- the rough grading on the site is
22 complete. As far as the building is concerned, the basin
23 which will float the casino is complete. The casino barge
24 is now doing installation of precast concrete bulkhead
25 panels, and the keel slab is in progress.
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1 And, finally, the buildings themselves, we
2 started with the exterior wall panels. The roofing is
3 underway and so is the interior framing.
4 So if you have any questions, we'll be happy
5 to address that.
6 COMMISSIONER JONES: Mr. Riffel, Mr. Godfrey
7 said first quarter and you said January.
8 MR. GODFREY: Let me clarify that, if I
9 could.
10 My understanding of the construction
11 schedule is we currently think that we'll be complete with
12 construction in December 2009, but we're looking to open
13 in the first quarter of 2010.
14 We want to be a little general at this
15 point, obviously, because there is training involved,
16 there is your approvals, maybe some final finishes. So
17 we're being general at this point and we're targeting the
18 first quarter of 2010.
19 As we get closer to the end of the
20 construction, we'll be able to be a bit more specific in
21 targeting a proposed opening date.
22 MR. RIFFEL: Yeah, let me piggyback.
23 That's not a licensure term I use. That's
24 what Bob Herr uses. That means that he's estimating. And
25 construction schedules are somewhat different, but it's
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1 going to be January. But that doesn't mean we'll open
2 then.
3 COMMISSIONER JONES: Right. Okay. The
4 construction?
5 MR. RIFFEL: Yeah.
6 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Any other questions?
7 Thank you very much.
8 MR. RIFFEL: Thank you.
9 MR. MCNARY: Mr. Chairman, the last item
10 shouldn't take long, unless you have extensive questions.
11 But John Nathan has been mentioned several
12 times, and we've had really a pretty aggressive program in
13 trying to bring already minority and women business on
14 board, and John is responding to your directive about a
15 standardized form.
16 I'd like for him to explain where that
17 stands and then to answer any questions, so that he's on
18 track with what you're looking for.
19 MR. NATHAN: Thank you, Commissioners, Gene
20 McNary.
21 What I've done is I've tried to collect all
22 of the information on a uniform level, and in sometime
23 early '07 -- I realized that in '06 I was just getting
24 reports from each of the casinos.
25 So in early '07 -- and you can look at it,
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1 Example No. 3 in the folder that I just gave you, is what
2 I currently collect on each of the casinos that I go
3 around to.
4 I make compliance visits to the casinos
5 about three to four times a year, each one of them. Many
6 of the casino properties have numeric goals. Some of them
7 do not. They just have best effort.
8 My target would be to look at that best
9 effort and try to follow up on those at what we want to
10 do.
11 In getting uniform information there still
12 is some absence of the data on the vendors, the addresses
13 and so forth.
14 And Item No. 12 is my proposal. And when I
15 meet with you just for a minute, if you'll meet with the
16 approval, I think it gives us any and all of the
17 information on a uniform basis from all of the properties
18 that we have.
19 So what I'd like to do is just talk with you
20 for a moment on what I propose to do, and it will cut down
21 on all of the reports and make sure that we get the same
22 kind of information from all of the casinos.
23 So if you have any questions or anything at
24 this time, I'd be glad to answer them.
25 Thank you.
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1 CHAIRMAN SHULL: John, I like what you've
2 started with here, and I think the thing we'd like to see
3 is if you'd put two or three together, just on the basis
4 that you've done here, and then later on if we need to
5 tweak something, we can, but that looks like a good place
6 to start to me.
7 Are there other comments or questions?
8 MR. NATHAN: Okay. Thank you.
9 MR. MCNARY: You got off easy, John. Darryl
10 will be in touch with you.
11 Mr. Chairman, that's the end of the agenda.
12 Let me say that we appreciate the
13 Commission's indulgence. This was an extensive agenda,
14 two volumes to read, and you told me it only took you
15 three weeks to do it.
16 We will -- seriously, we will not repeat
17 this. We'll spread it out, the licensing, the
18 presentations, so that it will be a more even agenda in
19 future meetings.
20 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Thank you.
21 COMMISSIONER JONES: Mr. Chairman, I move to
22 close this meeting to receive, discuss and consider the
23 following matters: closed minutes or other closed records
24 under 610.021(14) and 313.847.1.
25 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Second.
164
1 CHAIRMAN SHULL: A motion is made and
2 seconded.
3 Is there any further discussion?
4 Hearing none, call the roll.
5 MS. FRANKS: Chairman Shull.
6 CHAIRMAN SHULL: Approve.
7 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Jones.
8 COMMISSIONER JONES: Approve.
9 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Hais.
10 COMMISSIONER HAIS: Approve.
11 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Plunkett.
12 COMMISSIONER PLUNKETT: Approve.
13 MS. FRANKS: Commissioner Bradley.
14 COMMISSIONER BRADLEY: Approve.
15 (Meeting closed.)
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3 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER
4
5 I, Patricia A. Stewart, RMR, RPR, CCR, a
6 Certified Court Reporter in the State of Missouri, do
7 hereby certify that the testimony that appears in the
8 foregoing transcript was taken by me to the best of my
9 ability and thereafter reduced to typewriting by me; that
10 I am neither counsel for, related to, nor employed by any
11 of the parties to the action in which this hearing was
12 taken, and further that I am not a relative or employee of
13 any attorney or counsel employed by the parties thereto,
14 nor financially or otherwise interested in the outcome of
15 the action.
16
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18 __________________________
19 Patricia A. Stewart
20 CCR No. 401
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