Monday, June 16, 2003 | 11:04 a.m.
The El Cortez casino in downtown Las Vegas has agreed to pay a $15,000 fine to Nevada regulators for allegedly allowing one of its own managers to gamble at the casino and rack up significant gambling debts at the property, both violations of state law.
The five-count complaint did not name the employee but is nearly identical to a lawsuit the El Cortez filed in 2002 against Carolyn Masten, a former cage manager at the casino from 1965 through September 2001.
The employee, identified as female, accumulated more than $532,706 in debt using checks that were never cashed against her bank account, the complaint by the state Gaming Control Board said.
Board officials today declined to confirm that the woman named in the complaint was Masten. The attorney representing the El Cortez in the complaint could not be reached by press time. The El Cortez attorney in the separate suit, as well as Masten's attorney, also could not be reached.
The El Cortez was aware of the employee's debts and believed she had agreed to repay the debt from of her retirement account upon retirement, the complaint said. She resigned from the casino in October 2001 and refused to pay the entire amount of the debt, it said.
The El Cortez in 2002 filed suit against Masten in Clark County District Court to recover the debt.
Masten could not be reached for comment.
The Nevada Gaming Commission is expected to vote Thursday on the settlement agreement.
Around mid-January of 1992, the El Cortez began listing the employee has a "key employee" on its reports filed annually with the Gaming Control Board, the complaint said. Regulations prohibit such employees, which include executives, managers and other higher-ups with control over casino operations, from gambling in their own casinos.
During the person's employment with the El Cortez, she gambled on the property before, during and after her shifts, the complaint said. Her gambling activity was documented by photos taken of jackpot winners and by tax records of jackpot wins.
An agent with the Gaming Control Board informed an El Cortez manager that she was gambling in violation of the rules, the document said. The manager said she would be ordered to discontinue her gambling activities except for card games. Despite the warning, the El Cortez failed to prevent her from gambling again, it said.
She often gambled with funds she obtained by writing a check to the El Cortez and exchanging it for cash, the complaint said. She would then instruct the cashiers not to forward her check, called a "hold check," to the bank for deposit. The casino was aware of this activity, it said.
During surprise audits, the hold checks, which were stored in a vault drawer, were moved between drawers to give the appearance of balancing the checks. The employee directed cashiers to move the checks between drawers, the complaint continued.
In the District Court suit, Masten is accused of accumulating $615,000 in unpaid loans, gambling markers and "hold checks."
The suit claims Masten failed to pay $82,854 in loans and granted herself $532,706 in funds from the El Cortez casino cage in exchange for casino markers and held checks that were never cashed.
A hearing on the case was held this month on a motion for summary judgment by the El Cortez. A trial date has been set for May 2004.
Two other El Cortez managers were also allegedly gambling at the property, the board's complaint said. The Gaming Control Board conducted an investigative hearing of one manager in May 1988. The other employee had accumulated gambling debts using "hold checks." The complaint did not name the employees.
