Tribal chairman says no fraud occurring at Wisconsin casino

Sunday, March 19, 2000 | 10:18 a.m.

There is no evidence of fraud at the Lake of the Torches Casino, Chairman Tom Maulson said Friday.

"Some people want to send a message out there that Lac du Flambeau is not a viable casino and things are going out the door and that is not so," he said. "We have had workers that have taken chips. They were caught and handled properly through the court systems. We have had maybe a tech take coins out of a machine, get caught on camera and be terminated."

The National Indian Gaming Commission's audit found nine "areas of concern" involving financial practices at the Lake of the Torches casino and said a low take from the blackjack tables last year "can be indicative of theft by employees, patrons, management or others," according to a three-page letter outlining the findings.

The letter was obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which published the findings in Wednesday's edition.

Maulson said the genesis for the audit was allegations by his political opponents on the reservation. "Sadly to say, people are just trying to dirty what we are doing as a viable gaming operation," he said.

Maulson said he is up for re-election in November.

The tribal leader said the Gaming Commission's audit documents 17 concerns involving more than 1,600 federal mandates and regulations.

Those concerns have either been addressed or are being addressed, he said.

One criticism was that keys that provided access to money in the casino were kept in a key cabinet in the vault that had just one lock under the control of vault cashier, Maulson said.

A dual lock box has been ordered that would require two people with different keys to open it, he said.

The audit also criticized the tribe for lacking an internal auditor for monitoring money-handling practices.

Maulson said Randy Hand, a certified public accountant, was hired by the tribe last November.

Hand said Friday he has found no evidence of money disappearing from the casino. "Absolutely none," he said.

The National Indian Gaming Commission regulates, monitors and oversees gambling operations of 198 tribes across the country. In the past year, the commission launched 15 to 20 audits of various casino operations, a spokesman said.