Gaming briefs for October 11, 2004

Monday, Oct. 11, 2004 | 10:50 a.m.

Executives unimpressed with online company's offer

ATLANTIC CITY -- A reported $400 million bailout offer by an online casino company is getting a cool reception from Donald Trump's cash-strapped casino company.

Casino Fortune, which is based in Trinidad, told numerous media outlets last month that it was offering to replace DLJ Merchant Banking Partners in a deal to prop up Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts.

At the time, Trump officials said only that they had been approached by Casino Fortune.

But Trump Hotels Executive Vice President Scott Butera said Friday the company's actual correspondence to Trump was thin on substance.

"What we received had no mention of anything like that. I know they spent a lot of time in the press convincing you guys of what they said they were offering. But what they wrote us was much, much different," Butera said.

State seeks greater share of profit from proposed casino

MADISON, Wis. -- The state will seek a greater share of the profit from the casino proposed by the Menominee Indian tribe in Kenosha, the state's chief negotiator says.

Wisconsin Administration Secretary Marc Marotta said Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle wants the state to collect more than the 7 percent to 7.5 percent of the facility's net gambling revenue laid out in a 12-year-old deal between the state and tribe.

Indian tribes recently have offered other states as much as a quarter of their net revenue, but Marotta did not specify how much he thinks Wisconsin should reap if the Kenosha casino is approved.

"What we're seeing on these new deals, the state has a lot more bargaining power," he said. "Every situation is different, but we want to make sure we're getting what is the market demand, and I think the 7 percent is on the low side."

Man pleads guilty in thefts

DEADWOOD, S.D. -- A Minnesota man has pleaded guilty to two felonies related to stealing from slot machines in Deadwood.

Prosecutor John Fitzgerald said Tracy Brandt stole almost $4,000 by jamming nickels into the machines at local casinos in early July.

Brandt pleaded guilty to grand theft and fraudulent gaming. He faces up to 15 years in prison, plus restitution. Sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 9.

Fitzgerald said that at the time of the South Dakota crimes, Brandt was on probation in Minnesota for an April theft conviction in Mower County.

Authorities originally charged Brandt with 28 counts in the Deadwood case, but 26 of them were dropped when he pleaded guilty.

Gambling opponents sued

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The war of words between gambling supporters and opponents escalated Friday into the filing of four complaints with the state.

The supporters of Amendment 3, the Legislature's plan to legalize two casinos in Nebraska, filed complaints alleging wrongdoing by anti-gambling group Gambling with the Good Life.

Yes on Amendment 3 campaign coordinator Phil Young said the complaints filed with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission allege that Gambling with the Good Life did not accurately report contributions made to their committee on filings turned in earlier this week.

One complaint alleges the group received or was told it would receive $25,000 or $30,000 from Omaha's Trinity Interdenominational Church during the reporting period, which ended Sept. 30, but did not report it, Young said.

Gambling with the Good Life director Pat Loontjer said the complaint showed that gambling proponents like Young were desperate.