Nevada casino board wants to outlaw jackpot trespassers

Nevada regulators are contemplating the restructuring of a policy after a casino in Mesquite was requested to pay a jackpot to an undeserving player. The Nevada Gaming Control Board has reportedly requested that the Casablanca hotel-casino pay gambler Rhon Wilson $2,045.18, even though he was not permitted at the casino.

According to the statement released by the hearing officer, Wilson was playing a Dragon Link slot machine at the Casablanca when he won a $1,660 jackpot. The officials of Casablanca were required to write within the lines of Internal Revenue Service forms for this purpose. At the moment of identification, it became apparent that Wilson was a repeat offender.

Four days prior to this, a policy was implemented requiring slot machine operators to notify the Mesquite Police Department and the Gaming Control Board if they paid out to unwelcome guests. In 2011, Wilson was kicked out of the casino for stealing a dollar’s worth of beer from the lounge. 

Since then, Wilson was expelled from the premises five times for theft, intoxication, and misbehavior. In April, he acquired $385.18 in credits. After he was ejected, the casino deposited the jackpot amount of $2,045.18. Wilson filed an appeal, and it was determined that he was entitled to the money because the slot machine was operating properly.

According to Board policy at the time, licensees were required to pay banned consumers who won a jackpot. According to a statement signed by the hearing examiners Chan Langsavath, Augusta Massey, and Sebastian Ross, trespass has nothing to do with legal gambling. The Casablanca administrators appealed against it.

As Wilson was trespassing, Mesquite Gaming’s Vice President of Security and Government Affairs, Dick Tommasso, who is also the owner of Casablanca, refused to acknowledge Wilson’s claim to the slot machine jackpot. According to him, it is nearly impossible to maintain track of such individuals. 

According to Kirk Hendrick, chairman of the Control Board, the policy was established long before he joined the organization, even before Brittany Watkins. Both of them supported the policy, whereas former Las Vegas Municipal Court judge George Assad opposed it. 

The Control board was responsible for paying Wilson, and a meeting was held to find a solution to this controversial situation. The debate centered on whether restricted gamblers were required to receive their jackpot amounts. 

According to Tommaco, the modest fine was not proving to be a sufficient deterrent for trespassers. 

According to the information obtained from Melissa Saragosa, a Justice Court Judge, there had been 87 instances of intrusion, as stated by Cristopher Lalli, assistant district attorney for Clark County. Assad advocated the implementation of a new policy to resolve these issues.