Casino-debt collection class-action suit grows

Kim Smith

Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2000 | 11:16 a.m.

Two out-of-town visitors have joined a class-action suit against Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell and several local casinos over their debt collection practices.

The lawsuits filed Monday in U.S. District Court say Antranik Hindoyan of Carlsbad, Calif., and Arthur Cruz of Albuquerque, N.M., were arrested on felony bad check charges after gambling at three Las Vegas casinos.

Hindoyan had run up $60,000 in debt to the Las Vegas Hilton and MGM Grand and Cruz owed the Tropicana more than $5,000, the lawsuit states.

The casinos establish a line of credit for their customers through credit applications, the lawsuit says. After the credit line is established, the casinos issue markers so chips can be obtained by those wishing to gamble.

After the customer is finished playing, he either pays the markers or he leaves the markers and has an outstanding debt, the lawsuit states.

Richard Fine, a Los Angeles attorney who represents both men, said the problem is that Bell and the casinos are treating the markers as though they are bad checks when they are actually promissory notes.

The Hilton, MGM and Tropicana and several other casinos have been depositing the markers at the customers' banks without their knowledge and then sending them letters advising them that if they don't pay their debt within 10 days they will be prosecuted criminally, Fine said.

By doing so, the casinos and Bell are violating the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, Fine said.

Fine said he has filed seven such lawsuits against Bell so far.

"I expect to be filing more. I've been contacted by other people and I'm just waiting on some documentation," Fine said.

Bell said this morning that the markers are checks.

If someone buys a bicycle by writing a $100 check, they are implying they have $100 in the bank, Bell said. Casino patrons who open a line of credit are implying they can cover their markers.

"We don't collect debt," Bell said. "We prosecute bad checks. It's that simple. If you write a check and at that time you don't have any money in the bank, it is a crime as defined by the Legislature."