Saturday, April 4, 1998 | 4:07 a.m.
JEFF GERMAN is a senior investigative reporter. His column also appears in the Las Vegas SUN on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He can be reached at 259-4067 or on the Internet at [email protected]
A couple of weeks ago in Boston, union leader John Wilhelm probably startled his colleagues on the National Gambling Impact Study Commission.
Wilhelm, the No. 2 man in the international Culinary Union, suggested the federal panel needs to examine the impact of neighborhood and convenience store gambling in Las Vegas.
He also urged the industry to do more to address the subject of pathological, or problem, gambling.
Wilhelm elaborated on his eye-opening proposals during a break in the two-day Boston hearing.
"The value of the casinos we have on the Strip and downtown in terms of good jobs and other economic contributions to the community balance and more than make up for the problems that are created by a small proportion of the population who have a gambling problem," he said. "I don't see that balance in convenience gambling."
To Wilhelm, convenience stores provide low wages, low benefits and high-turnover jobs here.
Wilhelm believes the industry has a great story to tell in Las Vegas, but it can't pretend there isn't a downside.
As Wilhelm spoke to his colleagues, you could almost see a gleam in the eyes of James Dobson, the nine-member panel's most vocal gaming critic.
What may be more amazing to Dobson is that the industry and Nevada officialdom are taking Wilhelm's words to heart.
Recently, Gov. Bob Miller informed Commission Chairwoman Kay James he will head a special committee of elected officials and civic leaders to help prepare for the panel's November visit to Las Vegas.
The governor sent three of his top aides to Boston last month to observe the sometimes divided commission in action.
In the next eight months, the commission has three more road trips to take before it comes to Las Vegas.
Wisely, the casino industry has decided to use this time to step up its unprecedented self-examination process.
"We're going to have some warts that will have to be dealt with," one casino insider said. "The industry is doing its best to come to grips with this to get it sorted out so it can present its best image possible when the commission visits Las Vegas."
The signs of this re-evaluation are all around us.
Last week, Las Vegas Mayor Jan Laverty Jones went national with the debate over neighborhood gambling. She was interviewed live on NBC's "Today Show" with former slot route operator Emmitt Sullivan.
Jones has been spearheading efforts to limit slot machines in city neighborhoods, making it a quality-of-life issue.
But there are other issues being debated here, as well.
On April 14, the Gaming Control Board, chaired by Bill Bible, another federal gaming commission member, will hold its second public hearing on proposed regulations designed to stop the nation's illegal bookmakers from using Nevada's sports betting industry to further their illicit enterprises.
The federal panel is interested in looking at the $2.5 billion-a-year betting industry when it comes to Las Vegas, and Bible wants to make sure the state has a handle on it well before the panel comes here.
Bible is concerned that illegal bookies have become so sophisticated -- through the use of beepers and cellular phones -- that they're able to circumvent state and federal laws prohibiting them from placing bets across state lines at Nevada sports books.
The new regulations are designed to force the legitimate sports books to curtail the use of messenger bettors who place wagers here on behalf of illegal bookies across the country.
The Control Board, under Bible's direction, also plans to take the lead in determining what the casino industry has been doing in Nevada to combat problem gambling, an issue that strikes at the heart of the federal commission's mission.
Bible has set an April 24 public hearing.
So far, the American Gaming Association, the industry's Washington lobby, has taken the lead in attacking pathological gambling.
It has created and funded the National Center for Responsible Gaming in Kansas City, Mo., to conduct research on the subject. It also has been sponsoring training programs and workshops in its desire to increase awareness of its members about gambling addiction.
In a report to its members this month, the AGA reaffirmed its commitment.
"Our goal at the AGA is to make the gaming-entertainment industry's progress on the prevention of problem and underage gambling so strong that no criticism will stand up," the report said. "In this effort, we have laid a foundation, but we fully intend to build on our success."
On a local level, however, it is unclear how casinos and community leaders have dealt with these two issues. That's something Bible and the Control Board want to measure before the federal gaming commission comes to town.
Another front involves dealing with the so-called local bellyachers who have reached out to gaming's biggest foes.
The likes of Harry Pappas, who has been locked in a bitter eminent domain fight with the city, are capable of making a lot of noise.
James, who's aligned with the Christian right, which is spearheading the anti-gaming campaign, already has been receptive to Pappas, recently featured in a George magazine story that labeled Las Vegas one of the 10 most corrupt cities in America. That distinction came in part because of the way the city allegedly catered to casino interests to take away his property downtown to make way for the Fremont Street Experience redevelopment project.
In February, before the George piece was published, Pappas heard from Nancy Mohr Kennedy, the federal panel's executive director.
Kennedy wrote Pappas saying she had been asked by James to personally respond to a letter he had written to the chairwoman.
"I want to thank you for sharing your story with us," Kennedy wrote. "One of the reasons behind our on-site meetings across the country this year is to draw upon direct experiences of individuals like yourself.
"At this time," Kennedy added, "the commission is scheduled to hold an on-site meeting in Las Vegas in November. I am pleased to add your name to our mailing list so you can be kept informed of commission activities and future meetings, and I am enclosing guidelines for the public comment period."
Kennedy's response has to please Pappas and his friends -- people like former City Councilman Steve Miller and Tom Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Gambling.
But it can't come as good news to the casino industry, which, according to Wilhelm, has a lot of work to do in the next eight months, as it prepares to host the federal gaming commission in Las Vegas.
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