Hilton will pay fine for kids’ trek in casino

Monday, May 11, 1998 | 9:59 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The Las Vegas Hilton has agreed to pay a $350,000 fine to the state for allowing children to play the slot machines while they were waiting to enter "Star Trek: The Experience," the casino's newest attraction.

It was the harshest penalty ever imposed for permitting minors to play at tables or slot machines.

Hilton officials admitted children were loitering in the Star Quest Casino and playing the machines in February but said the violations of state regulations "were neither intentional nor the result of a disregard for regulatory compliance."

An agreement was reached May 5 between Hilton and the state Gaming Control Board which filed the 10-count complaint Feb. 24. It was signed by Stephen Bollenbach, president and CEO of Hilton Hotel Corp.; Arthur Goldberg, president of Hilton Gaming Corp.; the three members of the gaming board; and attorneys Frank Schreck for the casino and Charlotte Matanane for the state.

The board said Hilton, since the incident, has "taken aggressive and prompt remedial measures to prevent the conduct ... from recurring by rerouting the lines for ticket sales and the amusement ride out of the gaming area..." The line now extends into the North Tower promenade where all slots have been removed.

"Such measures ensure that minors waiting in lines to enjoy the Star Trek attraction will not be loitering in or about the premises wherein licensed gaming is conducted or operated," the board said.

Agents for the board were in the casino Feb. 14-15 when the Hilton sold 12,212 tickets for admission to the Star Trek attraction. Of those tickets, 1,081 were for children under 12 who experienced an average wait of an hour to buy tickets and another three-hour wait to enter the Experience.

The complaint said the children were in the casino area in violation of the regulations and some of them were playing the machines or climbing on them.

One minor was seen trying to insert a coin in a slot before being stopped, not by casino workers, but by his parent.

The complaint accused the Hilton of "egregious conduct" in failing to police the area to keep children out of the casino and from playing the slots. It said this was a "flagrant violation" of the law and the state regulations.

In reaching the agreement, Hilton gives up its right to a public hearing to contest the allegations in the complaint and to cross examine the undercover agents who witnesses the children in the casino.

This stipulation is not final until approved by the state Gaming Commission which meets later this month in Las Vegas.