Gaming briefs for December 2, 2004

Thursday, Dec. 2, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

Company introduces wireless service

The Riviera hotel and casino on the Strip has signed a contract with Irvine, Calif.-based Golden Tree Communications to offer high-speed wireless Internet service access in the property's 2,073 guest rooms.

The property joins a few other Strip casinos that have recently implemented wireless service for their customers.

The service, which will cost $9.95 per guest per day, is expected to be up and running before the end of the year.

The technology costs about a quarter of a million dollars to implement but is well worth the expense, Riviera Vice President of Hotel Operations Brian Benschneider said.

"Especially in a convention hotel like we have it's very important that people who attend conventions have access to modern communication methods," Benschneider said. "They expect to be connected to the World Wide Web."

Lawmaker appointed, again, to gambling commission

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A former state legislator was named to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board on Wednesday, the first day he became eligible under a state court ruling issued last month.

Rep. Jeffrey W. Coy, a Democrat, represented Franklin County for 11 terms before he resigned in September to take a $145,000-a-year seat on the seven-member board.

Attorney General Jerry Pappert successfully sued over the appointment. The state Supreme Court ruled that the state constitution prohibits lawmakers from taking certain public offices during the time for which they are elected.

Coy's term expired Tuesday, and the next day House Democratic Leader H. William DeWeese named him to the body that will implement and regulate slot-machine gambling in Pennsylvania.

The gambling commission is expected to hold its first meeting Dec. 14 in Harrisburg. Under legislation passed in July, there may be as many as 61,000 slot machines at 14 race tracks, resorts and stand-alone parlors. Revenues will provide local property-tax relief and shore up the state's horse racing industry, among other things.