Strip club owner answers gaming regulators’ charge

Wednesday, March 17, 2004 | 11:10 a.m.

Olympic Garden strip-club owner Pete Eliades plans to fight an effort by Nevada gaming regulators to punish him for allegedly selling a 50 percent stake in his Las Vegas Boulevard hot spot.

The topless-club owner filed an answer on Monday to the state Gaming Control Board's three-count complaint, filed against Eliades on Feb. 11, which could cost him as much as $300,000 in fines and could potentially result in the suspension or revocation of his gaming license.

Eliades' answer, submitted by his lawyer, Richard Wright, denies the Control Board's most critical allegation, that he sold a half-interest in Olympic Garden to Los Angeles businessman D. Michael Talla and two others for $15 million without first gaining required permission from regulators.

Olympic Garden currently operates 13 bartop video poker machines and is subject to state gaming rules preventing the sale of any interest in a gaming-licensed business without Nevada Gaming Commission approval.

In Eliades' answer to the board's complaint, he argues that he never sold an interest in ownership of the Olympic Garden, that he merely transferred half of the operating interest in the property, except for the slot revenue, which he maintains he kept in its entirety.

Wright was not immediately available for comment.

The complaint now moves to the Nevada Gaming Commission, which would act as a trial court to decide the merit of the board's charges, while the Control Board would act as the complaint's prosecutor.

Nevada Gaming Commission Chairman Pete Bernhard is responsible for placing the matter on the commission calendar. He could direct Eliades and the Control Board to mediate the matter before placing it on a commission agenda.