Casino fined $250,000 for illegal sports bets

Friday, July 16, 1999 | 10:31 a.m.

SPARKS -- John Ascuaga's Nugget has agreed to pay a $250,000 fine to settle a complaint by state gambling regulators involving illegal sports bets over the last six football seasons.

The issue concerns so called "messenger bets," in which a person is paid to place bets for others. The practice is illegal in Nevada.

State investigators said a California couple and another person shuttled hundreds of football parlay cards between the Nugget and San Jose, Calif., for other people. The Sparks casino paid for the messengers' travel, lodging and meals.

The fine was agreed to by the state Gaming Control Board. The settlement agreement must now be approved by the Control Board's parent body, the Nevada Gaming Commission.

"We violated the regulation, we are paying the fine, and it's not going to happen again," Nugget lawyer Rick Davenport told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

The fine is only the second for a regulatory violation in the Nugget's 44-year history. The other was a cash-handling violation that resulted in a $10,000 fine in 1993.

Davenport and Bud Hicks, the Nugget outside counsel, said Nugget owner John J. Ascuaga had no knowledge of the messenger betting and immediately ordered changes in sports betting operations after learning of the state probe.

"We have established new management at the senior levels ..." Davenport said, adding that the Nugget also now requires employees to attend specific training sessions on messenger betting.