Lawsuit claims casino violated man’s civil rights

Kim Smith

Tuesday, April 4, 2000 | 11:35 a.m.

A Las Vegas resident has filed a lawsuit against the Nevada Gaming Control Board and Regent Las Vegas hotel-casino, formerly the Resort at Summerlin, claiming he was falsely imprisoned and his civil rights violated last summer.

According to the lawsuit, filed Monday in District Court, Steven Bernier won more than $26,000 in cash bonus points and comp points while playing a video game at the resort in July 1999.

Bernier played on a machine that had a larger than average payback on the points acquired, and he did not know "if this was by design, device or mistake, but took full advantage of the high cash value being registered through his play," the lawsuit says.

When Bernier went to exchange some of those points five days later, he was detained and interrogated for several hours by representatives of the Control Board and the casino.

During the interrogation, the lawsuit states, it became apparent the officials believed the machine Bernier was playing on and others had been misprogrammed or misconstructed.

Bernier was never read his rights, but he was told that if a resolution was not reached, he could be charged with a crime, the lawsuit states.

Bernier was ultimately forced to sign a statement surrendering his points and stating he was signing the paper voluntarily, the lawsuit states.

Bernier is seeking unspecified damages.

Keith Copher, chief of enforcement for the Control Board, said he had not yet seen the lawsuit, but he could not comment on pending litigation. The attorney for Regent Las Vegas was unavailable this morning for comment.