Nevada regulators oppose licensing of casino vet

Brendan Riley

Thursday, Oct. 7, 1999 | 9:56 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Forty years in the casino industry, in Nevada, New Jersey, Mississippi and elsewhere, didn't cut it for Willard "Bucky" Howard Jr. Regulators opposed his bid to run a club on the Colorado River.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board voted 3-0 Wednesday to recommend that Howard, who has held some top management slots, not be licensed as chief operating officer and general manager of the River Palms in Laughlin.

The board's parent state Gaming Commission will have final say at an Oct. 21 hearing on Howard's plan to run the club, part of Gold River Operating Corp.

Control Board Chairman Steve DuCharme said he was troubled by some of Howard's business ties, including associations with a man who once gave a mob boss a free ticket to a New Jersey casino prize fight and allegedly laundered cocaine money.

Board members also said Howard was involved in a Mississippi-based company that illegally shipped slot machines to Michigan.

Howard's lawyer, Dennis Gallagher, pleaded with the board to give his client a break. He said Howard had long years of casino experience and had helped to turn around two struggling casinos since returning to Nevada a few years ago.

Gallagher added that Howard was a proven casino operator, but ran into problems in other states when he took on higher-level management roles. In such spots, he said Howard relied on subordinates "and they betrayed that trust."

In other action, the Control Board:

-Recommended plans by Sierra Design Group to hold a slot manufacturing and distributing license in Nevada. The rapidly growing company is headed by Robert Luciano Jr., a former key staffer at slot giant IGT who has worked as a consultant on Indian gambling ventures in Washington and California.

The board wants a two-year limited license for Sierra Design. Panel members said they were concerned that the company went ahead with a big shipment of devices to Washington without clear-cut authority to do so. But Sierra Design officials said they went out of their way to keep regulators in the loop regarding their activities.

-Recommended plans by The Holder Group LLC to buy 95 percent of Summit Casinos-Nevada Inc., which owns the Silver Club in Sparks and the El Capitan in Hawthorne.

The Tampa, Fla.-based Holder Group is headed by Harold Holder Sr., a former senior manager in Sears, Roebuck and Co. Holder also was licensed last month for the Sundance Casino in Winnemucca.

-Recommended Churchill Downs to share in the revenue from off-track parimutuel betting at Hollywood Park in Southern California. Churchill Downs recently acquired the track, and needs the regulatory approval to share in revenue when Hollywood Park's next meet opens Nov. 10.