Park Place criticized, escapes fine for Florida payments to politician

David Strow

Friday, Oct. 1, 1999 | 11:02 a.m.

The New Jersey Casino Control Commission today declined to levy any fines against Park Place Entertainment Corp. of Las Vegas for payments made to the former speaker of the Florida House in 1994.

However, the commission placed new conditions on Park Place's New Jersey gaming license, and chastised Park Place Chief Executive Arthur Goldberg for his decisions in the incident, calling them "distressing."

"(Goldberg's) failure to appreciate the impression that would result from the company's payment of large sums of money to the sitting Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives for little or no work certainly represented a lack of judgment, as he acknowledged in testimony before us," the commission wrote in today's decision. "Goldberg's failings in 1994 were mistakes in judgment, which we are confident will not be repeated.

"We continue to find that he possesses the good character, honesty and integrity demanded by the Casino Control Act."

Park Place's predecessor, Bally Entertainment Corp., hired Speaker Bo Johnson in 1994 as a real estate consultant, and paid him nearly $250,000 during an initiative to legalize gambling in Florida. In an interview with the commission, Goldberg admitted that Johnson was hired not only to help identify future locations for casinos in Florida, but also to give Bally clout in getting local approvals if gaming was legalized in Florida.

The commission expressed concerns that Bally never obtained a written opinion as to the legal or ethical ramifications of hiring Johnson. It noted that the company's chief compliance officer at the time was also involved in pursuing expansion opportunities in seven different locales, leaving little time for compliance duties.

However, the commission noted that its decision today would have to be based on the qualifications of Park Place, not Bally. "We are satisfied that the events in Florida could not happen under Park Place's compliance system," the decision said.

The commission placed five new conditions on Park Place's gaming license: that the company's chief compliance officer must not be involved in market development activities; that development activities in markets without gaming regulators must be reported to the commission semi-annually; that the company report all individuals and companies used in expansion activities in new gaming markets; that all business associations, payments or gifts to public officials, outside of political contributions, be reported to the commission; and that the company provide a list of outstanding litigation to the commission twice a year, excluding "routine business litigation."

The commission required that these activities to be reported to the commission must first be approved by the company's compliance officer.