MGM to be cleared in hosting of gambler

David Strow

Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board is unlikely to take any action against the Las Vegas Strip's MGM Grand hotel-casino in the wake of a murder-suicide involving one of the resort's high-end players, a top state gaming regulator said Monday.

Steve DuCharme, chairman of the control board, said board investigators have reviewed details of Jihad Hassan Moukalled's visit to the MGM Grand two weekends ago. On Nov. 21, shortly after returning to his home in Farmington Hills, Mich., Moukalled killed himself, his wife and his three children. Moukalled blamed his gambling addiction in his suicide note.

DuCharme said investigators reviewed the incident to see if there were any violation of gaming regulations related to the issuance of casino credit or in preventing problem gambling.

"We haven't determined that there's been any improper actions or regulatory violations," DuCharme said. "We're keeping all options open, but at this point, we don't anticipate any further action."

Nevada gaming regulations allow patrons to voluntarily ban themselves from a casino if they have gambling problems, and require employees to be trained in dealing with problem gambling. The regulations do not, however, require casinos to identify problem gamblers and force them to stop playing if they haven't asked for a ban.

The control board's decision angered one of the casino industry's most dogged opponents, who says the government and the gaming industry need to take steps to "minimize pain" caused by gambling addiction.

"When it has to do with minimizing pain, (gaming regulators nationally) have not only been lax, but almost irresponsible," said Tom Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. "This is clearly a case ... where someone needs to take responsibility. They have a responsibility to the clients and the patrons."

On Tuesday detectives in Farmington Hills met with MGM MIRAGE officials from Las Vegas and Detroit to discuss the case. The MGM Grand casinos in Las Vegas and Detroit are owned by MGM MIRAGE.

William Dwyer, chief of police in Farmington Hills, said $150,000 in torn-up markers from the Las Vegas MGM Grand were found in a waste basket at Moukalled's residence. But MGM Grand officials told police that Moukalled was not a credit player, and drew markers on cash that was on deposit at the casino's cage.

"He didn't appear agitated whatsoever (during his Las Vegas visit)," Dwyer said. "That's what was surprising. He'd experienced these kind of losses in the past."

MGM Grand employees also denied any knowledge that Moukalled had a gambling problem, Dwyer said.

"Take that for what it's worth," Dwyer said.

Moukalled lost more than $100,000 during his last visit to the Las Vegas MGM Grand, but Dwyer said detectives were told he was ahead overall -- and that during one recent visit, Moukalled won $500,000. Apparently, Moukalled had told MGM Grand employees that he was planning to bring his family to the Las Vegas casino during the holiday season.

The only comps Moukalled apparently received during his Las Vegas visit were free telephone calls.

Though saying "anything's possible," Dwyer said police aren't likely to file any charges related to the Moukalled case in the near future. An investigation into the murder-suicide is continuing, Dwyer said, adding Moukalled was a frequent visitor to MGM Grand's Detroit casino as well as casinos in Atlantic City.

Dwyer also called on casinos to take more aggressive steps to combat problem gambling, saying that the suicide rate in the Detroit metro area had been rising since gambling was legalized there.

"It's a horrible tragedy, and it should be a wake-up call to the nation," Dwyer said. "The addiction to gambling is a growing problem in the Detroit metropolitan area and the nation. People should step up and take more responsibility, because of the tragedies it's causing.

"The casinos know who are the addicted players, and they play to those players by giving them all the perks."

While declining to comment on specifics of the case, MGM MIRAGE spokesman Alan Feldman referred to a national problem gambling conference the MGM Grand will be hosting next week.

"We invite the chief to attend the pathological gambling conference we're hosting, and maybe it would help him catch up to speed on what we already know about this disease," Feldman said. "Maybe it will help him be better informed in the future on any future comments he chooses to make."

Even if the MGM Grand is unlikely to face disciplinary action by regulators or law enforcement officials, a UNLV gaming expert believes it's likely the company will face a lawsuit from Moukalled's family -- though such a lawsuit could be difficult to win. To have a chance, the family would have to be able to prove that MGM Grand officials could have foreseen that Moukalled would have killed himself and his family if permitted to keep gambling, said Shannon Bybee, executive director of UNLV's International Gaming Institute.

"I don't know what facts they'd allege, but they could claim it was foreseeable that he could do something like that," Bybee said. "But even if they did something wrong, does that make them liable for what he did to his wife and children?

"That's basically what you're talking about here, holding a casino liable for allowing a patron to gamble."

One avenue that could be used, Bybee believes, are "dram shop laws" -- provisions Nevada law do not contain. Under such laws, a bar or liquor store can be held liable for damages by persons injured or killed by a drunk driver.

But it would be difficult to make the leap from alcohol to gambling, Bybee said, because no court has ever made that jump before. The only ruling on the issue came in New Jersey, when a state judge ruled the state's dram shop law could not be applied to casinos.

Like Bybee, Grey also believes court action is inevitable -- if not in this case, then in another, following the model of successful litigation against the tobacco industry.

"Trial lawyers are going to start to look at the pattern here," Grey said. "Someone is going to pick that up and start holding them accountable through the courts, and I think there's a good case that could be made."