Control Board recommends licensure for Aladdin execs

Friday, Sept. 9, 2005 | 11:17 a.m.

Call it Planet Aladdin -- for now.

State gaming regulators on Thursday recommended the licensure of six executives with the Aladdin Resort and Casino who are slowly moving to transform the property to the Planet Hollywood brand.

One of the executives approved -- Michael Belletire --received a little extra scrutiny from regulators for his role in two incidents investigated by authorities in Illinois.

The state Gaming Control Board recommended the licensure of executives with OpBiz LLC who will be voting members of the Planet Hollywood board of managers. The Nevada Gaming Commission will take up the recommendation later this month.

Among the executives winning approval was company President Mike Mecca, who told the Control Board about the process of injecting the resort, bought out of bankruptcy in 2003, with celebrity appearances in an effort to transform the resort out of its Arabian theme.

Mecca also explained the hierarchy of the new board of managers, comprised of six executives with 33 share votes. Licensed executives Jess Ravich, Belletire and Mecca each have a vote while Starwood Resorts representative Theodore Darnall, financier Douglas Teitelbaum and Chief Executive Robert Earl have 10 each.

The resort executives earlier this week unveiled some of the plans to change the physical appearance of the property, but Mecca said celebrity appearances at special events would give guests a better feel for what's to come.

Mecca said several growth indicators - profits, cash flow, room and occupancy rates, for example - are higher as a result of appearances by comic Louie Anderson and socialite Paris Hilton. Mecca said the property is optimistic that appearances by singer Frank Sinatra Jr., golfer Billy Mayfair and "American Idol" discovery Kelly Clarkson would produce similar results.

For now, Mecca said, the company wants "to be the best Aladdin it can be."

While all the executives eventually won favor, Belletire, a former gaming administrator for the state of Illinois, received a grilling for his roles in two incidents, one reported in the mid-1990s and the other investigated two years ago.

Belletire said he was associated with a high-tech collection agency that was investigated by the Illinois State Police and the FBI and was an unindicted co-conspirator in a case involving an insurance broker who defrauded his own company.

In both cases, Belletire, who is representing the Aladdin note holders on the board of managers, said he cooperated with authorities. Regulators said after a staff investigation they were satisfied that Belletire did not have a bigger role in either case.