Claims by slot cheat released

      Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible made public Monday a 41-minute segment of a series of six videotaped interviews with slot cheat Ron Harris.
      The fired control board computer expert was videotaped in August by the state attorney general's office before pleading guilty to four counts of cheating in Nevada casinos.
      Harris argued on the extensively edited tape that Nevada slot games are deceptive and might be rigged.
      He also claimed that state political leaders periodically interceded on behalf of slot manufacturers to accelerate their study of new casino games.
      "It's not just IGT. Pretty much everyone has gotten into it," Harris charged of "near hits" on slot games.
      News of the tapes' existence surfaced after ABC News received copies of the six videotapes and aired a two-minute segment of Harris' claims in a March "PrimeTime Live" report on what the network characterized as deceptive slot practices.
      Bible produced the edited tape and aired it for officials of companies that Harris accused of wrongdoing after ABC reporter Brian Ross showed Bible that he had copies of the tapes.
      "We're encouraged to assist licensees" to maintain the integrity of the state's gaming industry, Bible said. "I think it's reasonable and responsible."
      Investigations by the control board and the attorney general's evidence found no evidence to back Harris' claims.
      Harris is awaiting sentencing on the four cheating counts and is facing a May trial in Atlantic City, N.J., on a charge that he rigged a $100,000 keno jackpot. He is living in Las Vegas and working at a video store and as a computer consultant
      The 40-year-old computer expert appeared in a variety of outfits on the edited tape, reflecting the three-week period during which the originals were made.
      At times, he sat calmly, his long blond hair tied behind his head. At others, he appeared awkward and scraggly, as his hair flowed freely over his shoulders.
      On the edited tape, Harris did the following:
      --Charged that slot manufacturers used "deceptive reels" to create near-hit payouts that give slot players the impression they are about to win jackpots.
      "Doesn't that seem deceptive to anyone here?" Harris said. "It's out there. It's being done. It's kind of condoned by the (control) board."
      State law forbids near hits on a slot's payout line but allows them above or beneath a slot machine's winning line.
      --Charged that Bible and other state regulators interceded on behalf of slot manufacturer Bally Gaming to prevent an investigation into a questionable video poker game that made it difficult to win jacks or better.
      "They knew it was bad to begin with," Harris said, alleging that Nevada casinos won as much as $30 million extra from the questionable game.
      Harris said state regulators failed to investigate the game, preferring to order Bally to improve the game's software.
      "After that, I did what I was told," he said. "I kept my mouth shut."
      --Charged that large casino game makers received preferential treatment from gaming regulators.
      "Some of the favoritism was actually understandable," Harris said. "They were better at (representing themselves) than the small manufacturers."
      --Speculated that International Game Technology had the ability to trigger its multimillion-dollar Megabucks slot jackpots by manipulating a central computer system in Reno.
      "I thought if I got enough money and enough computers myself, I could trigger one," he said.
      Harris considered using $10,000 of the $100,000 keno jackpot to purchase the computers, he said. He planned to use the rest of the money to build a Nevada home.
      Bible characterized Harris' claims as "shop talk" and "allegations" that have little credibility.
      Control board member and former Las Vegas police officer Steve DuCharme added: "It seems like a whole series of speculations, wild accusations. An informant is always going to try to find out what you want. They're largely bogus fabrications on the part of a snitch."
      Del Papa recently rejected a Review-Journal request to view all six tapes and said they were part of an ongoing legal investigation.
      "ABC News aired only approximately one minute and 47 seconds of the Ron Harris interview," she wrote in her decision. "Furthermore, since ABC has not aired any other portions of the interviews and to our knowledge has not released any other segments of the interviews which it may have, there is no basis for concluding that the tapes are in the public realm."
      Bible reiterated Monday that he thought it was his responsibility to show segments of the tape to both companies to protect the integrity of Nevada's gaming industry.