Ameristar, Harrah’s to appeal verdict

Monday, Nov. 1, 1999 | 11:39 a.m.

Las Vegas companies Harrah's Entertainment Inc. and Ameristar Casinos Inc. said they will appeal a $4 million verdict against them and another defendant handed down by a Mississippi jury last week.

A Pike County, Miss., jury decided that Ameristar, Harrah's Vicksburg Corp. and Deposit Guaranty National Bank conspired to prevent location of a casino on the Big Black River between Vicksburg and Jackson by waging a media campaign that influenced the Mississippi Gaming Commission.

The commission found the site to be unsuitable. The plaintiffs, including E.L. Pennebaker Jr. and Multi Gaming Management Inc., had sought damages of $238 million.

"Ameristar did nothing wrong and merely expressed its views that a proposed casino site was neither legal nor suitable under Mississippi gaming laws," Ameristar Chairman Craig Neilsen said.

"We intend to ask the Mississippi Supreme Court to reverse the jury's award as an unconstitutional restraint on Ameristar's free-speech rights."

Added Harrah's spokesman Ralph Berry, "We think it's wrong. We expect to be vindicated through that appeal."

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