Gaming briefs for April 27, 2005

Wednesday, April 27, 2005 | 11:06 a.m.

Four more casino surveillance operators accused of ogling

Four more surveillance camera operators at Caesars Atlantic City Hotel Casino used the equipment to ogle women, according to a complaint filed Tuesday.

In December the same casino was fined $80,000 for similar incidents involving two other camera operators who trained their eye-in-the-sky cameras on low-cut blouses and revealing clothing instead of craps games and slot parlors.

The hidden cameras, required by law in New Jersey casinos, keep tabs on all aspects of casino floor operations as a way to deter and prosecute theft, embezzlement, cheating and other crimes.

According to the new complaint, filed by the state Division of Gaming Enforcement, Caesars employees James Doherty, Donald Smith, JohnPaul Arambulo and Robert Swan aimed their cameras on "selected parts of the anatomy" of female gamblers and employees while working graveyard shifts over a three-day period in October.

Group seeks slots parlor

An investor group wants to open a slot-machine casino and spa just a few miles from the Gettysburg battlefield, one in a growing field of hopefuls that are angling for a slice of Pennsylvania's nascent gambling industry.

The group, Chance Enterprises Inc., comprises about a dozen Pennsylvania investors headed by Gettysburg native and former Conrail Inc. Chief Executive David LeVan.

The entire project is contingent on winning a slots license, and Chance Enterprises plans to partner with a gambling company to run the operation, a spokeswoman said.

Proposed slots ban advances

An ordinance that would prohibit slot machines anywhere in Frederick County moved forward Tuesday when the county commissioners voted unanimously to hold public hearings on the measure.

The ordinance would make Frederick, named as a potential slots location during this year's General Assembly, the first Maryland county to ban the machines through an amendment to its zoning ordinance. Hearings will likely be held in June by the county planning commission and in August by the county commissioners.

Gaming bills move quickly

With less than two weeks left in the legislative session, the odds are against proposals to expand gambling in Alaska, but two bills to establish "card rooms" are moving quickly through committees.

Card rooms are similar to casinos but only allow certain games of chance such as poker, rummy, bridge and cribbage. And unlike casinos, the house is not allowed to play or bet on the games.

Rep. Pete Kott, R-Eagle River, told the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday that his bill would create jobs and establish a new source of tax revenue for the state.

But those opposing the proposal argued that card rooms would lead to full-blown casinos and the social ills that accompany them.

The bill would limit card rooms to boroughs with a population of at least 30,000. It limits those communities to one card room for every 30,000 residents.

Setback for casino plan

The House dealt a major setback Tuesday to Gov. Tim Pawlenty's plan to pad the state budget with gambling money, sending a bill that would establish two casinos at Canterbury Park back to a committee seen as hostile.

Fourteen Republicans joined all House Democrats except one to return the bill to the House Taxes Committee, where Pawlenty and Republican leaders in the House fear they don't have enough votes to keep alive the gambling expansion.