Columnist Dean Juipe: NSAC comps come under state review

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2002 | 9:04 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

There are those who say comps make Las Vegas go around. They're a prevalent and constant source of amusement, if not power, and everyone with any type of connections is apt to get 'em, be it for food or entertainment.

If nothing else, complimentary tickets or passes separate the fortunate locals from the everyday tourists. They're a perk, a harmless dividend offered or awarded to everyone from cooks to cronies.

But comps -- or, in this case, insisting on comps -- have become an issue with the state ethics committee and the Nevada State Athletic Commission. In particular, are the five NSAC members entitled to the mandatory six tickets per boxing card that they ask for and routinely receive from promoters who do business in the state?

Raymond "Skip" Avansino, the commission's newest member, isn't so sure. In part because he's a former ethics commission chairman, he asked that board for a written opinion on the matter last week.

He has since withdrawn that request but one will be forthcoming anyhow.

"The statutes are a little muddy, so I think they'll be rewritten for clarity," NSAC executive director Marc Ratner said Tuesday. Asked if he was aware of any complaints pertaining to the free tix, he replied "not to my knowledge."

But it struck Avansino as an interesting item, in part because Nevada statute NRS467.145 states a commission member is entitled to one free ticket. Yet each of the five receives two at ringside, plus four elsewhere in the arena.

An added insinuation: Having access to those tickets gives NSAC members additional leverage and clout, especially in view of the fact that tickets to major fights command well in excess of $100 apiece.

Commission chairman Luther Mack, reached in Reno, said he doesn't see a problem with the ticketing practice and adds that the state gets off easy.

"This has been going on for 30 years and has never been an issue," he said. "Besides, you have to remember that this commission doesn't get anything from the state.

"In New Jersey, commission members are paid $35,000 a year. We not only get nothing, we end up giving."

Mack, who has been on the board almost 14 years, would seem to be entitled to compensation for attending pertinent meetings and fights in Las Vegas, yet he says he pays for almost everything out of his own pocket.

"It's not a free ride," he said. "If I go to Las Vegas for commission purposes, sometimes I don't get reimbursed for my flight and I always pay for my own hotel room, which can be $200 a night. I also don't get a per diem.

"It's costly being on the commission, and down the road it won't always be the case that the members can afford to pay for these things out of their own pockets."

He's right. And, as such, when the attorney general rewrites or approves the new wording for the earlier mentioned statute, perhaps he should make sure it also includes a provision that would require the host site for a fight to provide accommodations to the NSAC members.

Let them have the six tickets, given no one's complaining. And go one better and have them be entitled to a free room.