Casino operator fined $50,000

Friday, July 21, 2000 | 10:49 a.m.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

JACKSON, Miss. -- Mississippi gambling regulators fined a Las Vegas casino company $50,000 for its part in financing an environmental group opposed to the expansion of a nearby competitor.

The action by the Mississippi Gaming Commission on Thursday against Tom Brosig, head of gaming operations in Mississippi for Grand Casinos, was expected.

Park Place Entertainment of Las Vegas owns Grand Casinos in Gulfport and Biloxi.

Brosig also is co-chairman of the steering committee for Balancing the Coast's Future. The group's co-chairman, Glenda Fountain, is the mother of Park Place's vice president for legal affairs, Trudy Fountain.

The group sent out mailings earlier this year criticizing the President Casino's planned $2 billion expansion that will add 13,000 hotel rooms and one driveway. The project would require filling in tens of acres of the Mississippi Sound.

Park Place did not contest the fine and an agreement stipulates no admission of wrongdoing by Park Place.

Gaming Commission Executive Director Chuck Patton said the agency does not object to a casino company openly expressing opposition to an expansion project by a competitor, for environmental or other reasons.

Regulators do object to casino companies hiding behind front organizations to oppose expansion projects or public ballot initiatives, Patton said.