Missouri Gaming Commission cuts fine for casino owner Bill Grace

Thursday, June 1, 2000 | 9:45 a.m.

Grace appealed after being fined in December for misconduct, including cursing at a casino employee, and for drinking on the casino property.

After a hearing on the appeal last month, hearing officer Mike Yost recommended that the fine be $10,000, saying Grace "made a poor decision to argue with his staff in public view."

"Customer service is very important, but there is a line that should be drawn as to how you can drill that into an employee and I think Mr. Grace crossed that line," Yost said.

According to the report, on May 29, 1999, Grace discovered a long line at the front door five minutes past the midnight boarding time. A security guard who thought customers were mistakenly boarding the boat against regulations stopped the process. When Grace ordered him to board the customers, another security guard said the casino could be fined by the gaming commission for improper boarding.

According to the report, Grace used expletives in telling the guard not to worry about the fines but about getting customers on board.

"I think I have the right to curse at my employees," Grace said after Wednesday's meeting. "I think if I had done anything else than what I had done, it would have been a dereliction of my duties."

Grace, who also drank wine at the casino that same evening, said he didn't know the rule requiring employees to have permission to drink in the casino applied to him as well.

Grace plans to continue his appeal of the reduced fine. His lawyer, James Deutsch, said he would take the matter to the Missouri Court of Appeals in Kansas City.

"Nobody would confuse the use of two curse words with misconduct," Deutsch said.