Changing the face of gaming industry

David Strow

Friday, July 7, 2000 | 11:24 a.m.

State Assemblyman Wendell Williams said Thursday night he's considering introducing legislation that would mandate minority business ties by Nevada casino operators, a requirement in many states that have recently introduced legalized gaming.

"It would be very difficult to (pass such a bill), but I have no reservations about presenting that legislation," Williams said. "It's a real tough thing to do, but putting it in statute makes it pretty clear."

Williams addressed a town hall meeting Thursday night, the first event in a national gaming conference organized by the Urban Chamber of Commerce. The conference will continue today and Saturday at the MGM Grand.

Addressing a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 attendees, the Las Vegas Democrat said Nevada was surrendering its leadership in the gaming industry by not requiring its casino companies to have minority ownership and minority contracts, as states such as Michigan and Louisiana have done.

"How can these same companies allow (minority) participation in one city and not allow it in the city they're totally based in?" Williams said. "It baffles me. We're supposed to be the leader in this state. Other states are leading the way. It's something we should look at."

Williams, however, said the most effective way to solve the problem was to sit down with each casino operator and discuss ways to bring about more minority participation. At that point, he said, a bill could be brought forward that the gaming industry would support.

"The best way to achieve this is to sit down and work things out," Williams said. "Most good people will come together and look at these negatives that have existed for so long.

"We still should put this in statute, because it shows they're committed. I've had a pretty good relationship with gaming in the past, so that's why I'm optimistic."

But introducing such a bill sometime in the near future, Williams said, would help convince the gaming industry to come to the table for such talks.

Williams' comments came against the backdrop of a high-profile debate between MGM MIRAGE and the local chapter of the NAACP, which has challenged MGM MIRAGE's track record of contracts with black-owned businesses. MGM MIRAGE has promised that it will not accept any future contracts that do not have a minority component, but rejected the NAACP's calls for a $100 million fund that would be used to invest in businesses and community organizations in predominantly black West Las Vegas.

Williams said he's supportive of the NAACP's public campaign.

"Their mission is to get people talking," Williams said.

The debate over black participation in the gaming industry was addressed by former Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones, now an executive with Harrah's Entertainment Inc.

"There are some real issues and questions on the playing field, and whether it is a level playing field," Jones said. "Our enemy isn't anyone in the gaming industry. Our enemies are the pleasure police, the ones that want to take away the right to participate in casino gaming. If they take that away, we won't even have the opportunity to have discussions.

"The most important thing that can come out of this conference is an action plan, where we want to go."

Some of the most vocal calls for action by the casino industry came from Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Barbara Robinson, who said that "the face of the gaming industry is so white." She called for more contracts with black businesses, minority representation on the boards of gaming companies and for problem gambling programs aimed specifically at black residents of gaming communities.

"We don't want to be employees, we want to be employers," Robinson said. "We need to talk about how to get the casinos to do business with our businesses. The boards of casinos must integrate."

When Jones told Robinson that Harrah's hired a black woman as the general manager of one of its Mississippi casinos, Robinson retorted that this was a reflection of the fact that Mississippi's population was more than 35 percent black.

"You will not come into Mississippi and not do proper business," Robinson said.

Some attendees felt the problem wasn't a willful act by casino operators.

"These guys are not bigots, for the most part," said retired U.S. Army Gen. Harry Brooks Jr., now owner of a Las Vegas international trading company. "They're good people that don't understand our problem. We don't have their attention."

The way to get their attention, Brooks said, was through the efforts of "peacemakers and window-breakers" -- activists to get the attention of casino companies through public protests, and those that would be able to sit down and negotiate with the operators.

"All we want is a fair share, and most of these people are reasonable," Brooks said. "You (local residents and business people) have more power than you realize. Use it."

But state Sen. Joe Neal -- an outspoken critic of the gaming industry and backer of a petition drive aimed at raising the state's gaming tax -- warned attendees against relying too much on gaming.

"A casino is not a panacea for a community," Neal said. "You cannot allow a casino ... to become the economic (focus) of a community."

Gaming, Neal said, is a "parasitic industry that needs a host."

"If you let casinos pop up like 7-Eleven stores, you're going to have problems," Neal said. "If you're going to have gaming in your community, you'd better make damn sure it pays its fair share.

"You have to control gaming in your jurisdiction. We've lost control of it in this state. You have to control gaming, or gaming will control you."