Board votes to grant license to casino host

Thursday, March 10, 2005 | 11:08 a.m.

The state Gaming Control Board on Wednesday recommended approval of a conditional license for a controversial Green Valley Ranch casino host who is a character in Discovery Channel's "American Casino" television show.

Board members voted 2-1 to grant a limited two-year license to Patrick Traficant, the executive casino host for the Henderson property.

Green Valley Ranch, part of the Station Casinos Inc. chain, is half owned by the Greenspun family, which also owns the Las Vegas Sun.

Board members spent 1 1/2 hours grilling Traficant, who was arrested on illegal gambling charges in Ohio in the 1970s and who has associations with organized crime figures in the Youngstown, Ohio, area.

Board member Bobby Siller, who cast the lone vote against licensure, said he could be forgiving about Traficant's scrapes with the law more than 25 years ago. But he was concerned that Traficant maintained contacts with old friends from his past in Youngstown and that he invited some of those associates to Green Valley Ranch as recently as last year.

Siller said one of those associates and his son were indicted for illegal bookmaking in 2004 and await sentencing in May. Traficant said he was unaware of their illegal activity when they were invited to Las Vegas.

"The problem is your legal counsel said there was the 'old you' in Youngstown, but you got in your car and left all that behind you," Siller said. "But you really didn't leave that old you behind, you brought that here with you."

Siller, who was in law enforcement in northeastern Ohio in the 1970s and was aware of many of the associates Traficant was involved with, said the applicant worked with Cosa Nostra associates, a man who was imprisoned for murder, criminals who bribed public officials as well as illegal gamblers.

One illegal gambler, he said, was a police chief who participated in an illegal dice game Traficant ran.

Siller called Youngstown "organized crime and racketeering-infested" and said he was concerned that Traficant still had associates from his past on his client list.

"It couldn't get any worse," Siller said of Traficant's bringing illegal bookmakers and persons convicted of corruption to Nevada.

Traficant's attorney, Jeffrey Silver, said many of Traficant's clients were coming to Las Vegas anyway and Traficant was doing his job as a casino host to see that creditworthy players went to his property and not a rival's.

He said Traficant was a colorful character who appears on the Discovery Channel's "American Casino" show, which is set at the Green Valley Ranch.

Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said that Traficant's case involved unique circumstances and that he did not believe the applicant's past associations meant he had existing business relationships with organized crime.

In the cases involving the illegal bookmakers, the casino clients came to Las Vegas before they were indicted for their illegal acts in Ohio.

That left the decision on the recommendation in the hands of new board member Mark Clayton, who was deliberating for the first time in a case in which his colleagues were split.

Clayton said that while he had an appreciation for Siller's concerns, he ultimately sided with Neilander because Traficant showed no lengthy relationship with any Ohio crime figures.

He added that he shouldn't be viewed as "a pussycat and not a law-and-order guy" as a result of that vote because he said he would always consider each case on its own merit.

The board's recommendation will go to the Nevada Gaming Commission for consideration later this month.

In other business, the board recommended approval of several financial transfers and shelf renewals and recommended licensure on key employees and officers. The board: