ABC warned before ‘Prime Time Live’ about allegations

Thursday, March 13, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

The casino industry's damage control efforts behind the scenes may have persuaded ABC News to air a milder-than-expected version of its report on alleged wrongdoing within Nevada's gaming regulatory system.

Gaming leaders, still fearful of fallout from Wednesday night's "Prime Time Live" broadcast, were relieved today that the segment did not contain the majority of the discredited allegations leveled by convicted slot cheat Ron Harris.

"What the program did establish was that the gaming regulatory system in Nevada works efficiently in that the individuals in question who were cheating casinos, not the public, were in fact apprehended and forced to answer to the law," said Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the Washington-base American Gaming Association.

"Buried in the story was the fundamental fact that nothing done under state regulations or by gaming companies in any way changes a customer's odds at winning.

"It is unfortunate that ABC's journalistic integrity was sacrificed in order to hype television ratings by broadcasting a program with no validity."

ABC had obtained copies of secret videotapes of interviews with Harris, a disgraced former electronics expert with the State Gaming Control Board.

The interviews were conducted by the Nevada attorney general's office, which has publicly indicated it no longer believes Harris has any credibility.

Earlier in the week, Fahrenkopf expressed his concern about the ABC report in a letter to his members.

"Investigative reporter Brian Ross will present a very slanted and untrue depiction of the industry based upon statements made by a convicted felon who is now in Nevada's Black Book," Fahrenkopf wrote.

Just prior to the report, concern reached Wall Street, where the gaming analyst for Prudential Securities, a major trader of gaming stocks, informed clients over the Internet that the casino industry could be facing some negative publicity on national television.

Fahrenkopf was among several within the casino industry who worked behind the scenes to get ABC to lighten up.

Former Attorney General Brian McKay, now vice president and general counsel for International Game Technology, sent letters to ABC warning its news division it risked legal repercussions if it portrayed his company in an unfair light.

"We just wanted to make it crystal clear to ABC that if it broadcast a story from Ron Harris without any reasonable basis, we were going to hold them accountable," McKay said.

Sig Rogich, former aide to President Bush and a Las Vegas political consultant, also was hired by IGT to downplay Harris' allegations with the local media.

IGT President G. Thomas Baker was interviewed on "Prime Time Live," but the majority of allegations Harris had raised about his company, the largest slot manufacturer in the world, were not aired.

Dave Johnson, vice president and general counsel for Alliance Gaming Corp., sent ABC a letter warning the network it would pursue legal remedies if Ross aired unsubstantiated allegations of irregularities about one of the company's subsidiaries, Bally Gaming Inc.

"These allegations were made by a convicted felon, speaking under a grant of immunity, in an obvious self-serving attempt to ingratiate himself with his prosecutors and thus obtain a reduced sentence," Johnson wrote.

"Please be advised that if you broadcast any defamatory or libelous matter concerning Bally Gaming Inc., we will hold you responsible to the fullest extent of the law."

The ABC report did not contain any allegations about Bally Gaming.