Miss America slots debut at Harrah’s Atlantic City

Sheila Hotchkin

Monday, Sept. 23, 2002 | 9:17 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- Miss America may have created a winner or two even before Saturday night's pageant.

Putting aside its uneasiness over gambling, the scholarship organization joined Harrah's Atlantic City on Friday in introducing 20 new Miss America quarter slot machines to casino-goers, who gawked at the tiara-topped novelties.

Miss America 2000 Heather French spun the reels for a while using a $20 bill contributed by the game's designer. Her luck was uneven, but a couple times the pageant's logo appeared, and French whooped and clapped as the machine played a few bars of "There She Is, Miss America."

The composer's wife, Phyllis Wayne, told French it was playing "your song."

The song leads into a bonus round, which uses three vertical reels showing heads, torsos and feet. They line up to make complete, imaginary contestants.

Acting Miss America Organization CEO George Bauer said the machine "is creating a major non-television revenue source for scholarships."

Bauer has declined to give an exact figure, but said the machine will raise millions of dollars for the Miss America Organization as it weds the shore town's two biggest claims to fame.

Not everyone thinks the marriage is a good one. Several past pageant winners, including Miss America 2002 Katie Harman, do not believe the organization should associate with gambling.

"It's not promoting what the organization stands for, which is scholarship and community service," Harman said. "It devalues the program and the contestants that go through it."

But French, who has traveled to Las Vegas and Atlantic City to promote the machine, described herself as an advocate for education, not gambling.

"As a nonprofit organization, raising funds is vital for the survival of the organization," French said.

Pageant contestants were not allowed to enter the casinos for decades, even though the organization accepted free hotel rooms for them. It wasn't until 1997 that the restriction was eased.

Jerry Seelig, executive vice president of Pleasantville-based AC Coin & Slot, said he kept propriety in mind while designing the machine. Poking fun at the pageant was out of bounds, he said, and the goal was finesse, class and nostalgia.

"With this game, there are certain things you can't do. Most other games, you can do anything," Seelig said. "Coming from Atlantic City, I had a pretty good idea of what was and wasn't acceptable."