High-roller’s suit stayed by judge

Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2003 | 10:51 a.m.

A Clark County District Court judge has dismissed state Gaming Control Board regulators from a high-roller's fraud suit against Park Place Entertainment Corp. and stayed state court action against other defendants pending the outcome of a similar federal case.

Judge Jackie Glass on Monday dismissed Control Board defendants from a suit brought by Los Angeles-area businessman Steve Mattes, who claims Park Place defrauded him of millions of dollars in gambling debts over four days of play at the opening weekend of the Paris Las Vegas in September 1999.

The judge also stayed state court action pending the resolution of a federal case involving many of the same parties.

Mattes won more than $8 million in damages in a jury trial in U.S. District Court in November. He alleged in his trial that Park Place had tampered with internal accounting documents to show that he had lost money instead of won. But U.S. District Court Judge James C. Mahan ruled in April that the verdict was flawed, granting Park Place a new trial.

Mattes responded with a suit against Park Place in Clark County District Court in June, naming the Control Board, Park Place's external auditor Deloitte & Touche and Hilton Hotels Corp.