Wednesday, April 30, 2003 | 10:43 a.m.
State regulators have launched an investigation of Station Casinos Inc.'s Santa Fe Station casino to determine whether the property violated state laws requiring casinos to report large cash transactions to the federal government and track the handling of smaller cash exchanges.
The state's Regulation 6A rules apply to all Nevada casinos and are similar to federal rules requiring casinos in other states to track cash transactions that could become vehicles for laundering money.
Station Casinos discovered "filing irregularities" at Santa Fe early this month and recently notified the state Gaming Control Board, company spokeswoman Lesley Pittman said.
In all cases of alleged violations, board agents extend their reach statewide to other properties owned by the same company, Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said today.
Neilander declined to comment further on the investigation, saying the board hasn't yet determined the extent of the problems. He also declined comment on whether the board was investigating other companies for potential violations. Such investigations are confidential until completed by the board and can result in civil or criminal penalties.
Station Casinos, which is also pursuing its own investigation, hasn't yet determined the severity of the filing problems and when they occurred, Pittman said.
"We're trying to uncover all the pieces and put them together," she said. "The problem is that some of the employees who worked at Santa Fe (at the time of the problems) are no longer employed at the company."
"We are working closely with the Gaming Control Board and doing everything we can to make sure this doesn't happen again."
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