Control Board raps Hard Rock on print ads

Thursday, Nov. 6, 2003 | 11:05 a.m.

The state Gaming Control Board on Wednesday recommended approval of a gaming license for an officer of the Hard Rock hotel-casino, but took the opportunity to criticize the property's risque advertising.

Regulators unanimously recommended the licensing of Kevin Kelley as an officer of the company to the Nevada Gaming Commission, but Gaming Control Board member Bobby Siller ripped two print advertisements that he said implied that it was all right to cheat at gambling and use large quantities of prescription stimulants.

Kelley, who wasn't an executive at the Hard Rock when the ads were approved, said the campaign has been pulled.

Siller said he understood how the Hard Rock is attempting to be creative to market a demographic attracted by edgy, risque messages, "but I have to question where's the sound judgment" of executives who approved the campaign.

"There has to be some accountability," Siller said.

Siller said one of the ads showed a man and a woman in seductive poses with the tagline "There's always a temptation to cheat." The ad prominently displayed playing cards and poker chips, which Siller said could leave an impression that cheating occurs in casinos.

Siller also said he was unhappy with a football promotion ad tagged "the big score," which had references to the use of drugs.

He also said he questioned the wisdom of the Hard Rock permitting a reality television show produced by MTV in which an unsuspecting couple checked into a hotel room and found what was believed to be a body inside.

In January, Clark County agencies complained to the Hard Rock and billboard company Lamar Advertising about a campaign featuring a topless woman holding a pair of dice strategically concealing her nipples.

The county's Current Planning Division and Public Response Team said the billboard was obscene and ordered it removed.

In addition, the Hard Rock paid a $100,000 fine to settle complaints of public sexual conduct at the hotel's nightclub in 2001.

In other business Wednesday, the Gaming Control Board took another step toward approval of regulations associated with the live entertainment tax approved by the Nevada Legislature in the summer, approved suitability and licensing applications from officers of the Imperial Palace hotel-casino and allowed the withdrawal of a licensing application for Silverton Casino owner Ed Roski Jr. on another property.

When the state Legislature approved taxes on live entertainment last summer, it assigned the state Department of Taxation and the Gaming Control Board to draft regulations listing details.

Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said a joint workshop is scheduled Nov. 21 and the Department of Taxation will take up the issue Nov. 25, while the Control Board will review the regulations at its Dec. 4 meeting.

Still at issue in the regulations is whether dancing by patrons to recorded music is considered "live entertainment" and whether disc jockeys are entertainers.

Board members unanimously approved suitability and licensing applications for William Nitz and Jeffrey Cooper of the 2,700-room Imperial Palace.

Nitz, vice president and secretary, and Cooper, treasurer, of the closely held Strip property, had received preliminary approval as trustees of the Ralph Engelstad and Betty Engelstad Family Trust by the board in March.

Ralph Engelstad, owner of the Imperial Palace and a sister property with the same name in Biloxi, Miss., died of cancer in November 2002 and Nitz and Cooper became more active in the management of the Las Vegas property after his death.

The board also OK'd a request to withdraw a licensing application for the former Regent casino from Roski, who owns the Silverton hotel-casino and attempted to acquire the property formerly known as the Regent.

The 461-room hotel-casino has been alternately known as the Resort at Summerlin, the Regent Las Vegas and the JW Marriott Las Vegas. Now under the supervision of Millennium Management Group, the casino there is known as the Rampart Casino at the Resort at Summerlin and the hotel is under the JW Marriott brand.

Roski, who made a bid to acquire the Las Vegas Hilton in late 2000 and early 2001, attempted to buy the Regent out of bankruptcy in 2000 and filed for licensing. The Control Board keeps such applications on file until requests are made to withdraw them.