Mississippi casino giveaway litmus test for gaming giveaway policy

Monday, June 19, 2000 | 10:05 a.m.

The new policy, put in place by the state Gaming Commission earlier this year, arose from a car giveaway last year at the President Casino.

Some of the casino's customers complained that the winner of a Lincoln Navigator given away by the casino was the wife of the Astro Lincoln-Mercury dealership owner Bobby Culbertson.

His wife, Sherry, won the $42,000 sport utility vehicle the casino bought for the giveaway.

"Nobody had experienced anything like that before," said Greg Bosarge, the casino's general manager. "It was an unfortunate situation, and we're doing everything we can to make things right."

Gaming Commission spokeswoman Ashley Skellie said the policy is a matter of common sense.

"If a vendor has contributed something, they should be ineligible," she said. "It's a policy favored by the Gaming Commission which has asked its casino heads to abide by."

The President is giving away another Navigator - also purchased from Astro Lincoln-Mercury - after a lengthy wait for the Gaming Commission to complete its investigation and decide how to respond.

Commission officials said they had no grounds to disqualify Sherry Culbertson from the drawing she won. Regulators now tell casinos to exclude the merchant when they give away a product. All giveaways at state-regulated casinos receive the commission's prior approval.

To satisfy complaints over the July 18 giveaway, Bosarge said, the President will put all entry tickets submitted in that drawing in the barrel for Sunday's giveaway. Players also can earn new tickets for the drawing.