Nevada ‘Black Book’ may grow

Brendan Riley

Friday, May 28, 2004 | 8:57 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The state Gaming Control Board is scheduled next week to consider recommending a "black book" listing for a computer expert and convicted slot cheat who has cost Las Vegas casinos millions of dollars.

The board, meeting Wednesday and Thursday, will consider recommending Dennis Andrew Nikrasch, also known as Dennis McAndrew, who has served two prison terms for slot-cheating scams that totaled about $16 million.

Also on the Control Board's "black book" agenda is Eugene Bulgarino, a member of a ring headed by Nikrasch -- who used a concealed, hand-held computer to program slot machines so they'd pay off big jackpots.

Nikrasch was first convicted in a $10 million slot scheme in 1986 and served five years in prison before being paroled in 1991.

He was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison in 1998 for his role in setting up another scam that costs six Las Vegas resorts a total of $6 million. Prosecutors said 10 rigged jackpots were involved, ranging from one for $30,000 at the Rio to others for $1.7 million at the Luxor and $3.7 million at Harrah's.

Bulgarino was given a nearly 4-year prison sentence for his involvement in the $6 million scheme. In all, 13 defendants were indicted in that case.

The "black book" is actually a silver-colored booklet of mug shots, officially called the "List of Excluded Persons." The 37 people now on the list are banned for life from entering Nevada casinos. If authorities spot someone on the list in a casino, the club could face licensing sanctions.

High-profile cases have included a $10,000 fine for the old Dunes hotel-casino in the 1970s for admitting a "black book" entrant, and Frank Sinatra's loss of his gambling license in 1963 for doing the same at his Cal-Neva resort at Lake Tahoe.

Regulators say they believe the book has helped maintain the integrity of the state and Nevada's gambling industry. But critics say the process unfairly protects the industry at the cost of individual rights.

Nominations to the book are made by the Control Board, whose staff prepares background investigations, sometimes with the assistance of the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies.

Final decisions on nominees are made by the board's parent state Gaming Commission.