Regulators re-license casino executive with tax troubles

Friday, June 23, 2000 | 10:50 a.m.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTIC CITY -- New Jersey casino regulators agreed Wednesday to renew the license of a casino official who overstated his business expenses on tax returns.

In a 4-0 vote, the state Casino Control Commission granted Mark Juliano, 44, a new license.

Juliano, a former president of Caesars Atlantic City Hotel Casino, is now president of Mirage Resorts Inc.'s Atlantic City operations. Mirage was bought last month by MGM Grand Inc., but Juliano remains in charge of the company's interests in Atlantic City.

Commission Chairman James Hurley had recommended earlier that Juliano be re-licensed despite a "cavalier attitude" and "extremely poor judgment."

An investigation by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement found that Juliano exaggerated deductions on tax returns for 1995, 1996 and 1997, underpaying his tax liability by about $55,000.

The returns, prepared by an out-of-state CPA who was a gambler at Caesars, reported Juliano's gambling losses as a business expense and said he drove 180,000 miles on a car that had only 69,000 miles on the odometer, the DGE said.

But regulators said there was not enough evidence to withhold Juliano's license renewal.

"I'm glad this matter is behind me," Juliano said Wednesday. Asked if the case had hurt his reputation, he said: "That's for other people to decide, not me."