COLUMN: Ralston

     Prime Time Live has cracked the story everyone in Nevada trembles to tell: Casinos take advantage of suckers.
      After stunning the world with the revelation that slot machines are a bad bet, what's next for ABC News? How gamblers are fiendishly plied with free drinks by women in provocative outfits?
      Ordinarily, the unsubstantiated musings of a convicted slot cheat and a man barred from the industry wouldn't be much to fret about. But these are not ordinary times for the casinos and the state. And with an unfortunate confluence of circumstances, including an incipient federal gaming commission, a pending appointment of Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible and a developing gubernatorial bid by Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, last week's national broadcast of The Harris Tapes saga will not be so soon forgotten.
      Let's distill what correspondent Brian Ross' four-month investigation uncovered: That slot machines are programmed to make people think they've come close to winning jackpots, thus inducing them to keep playing. Forget that so-called near-misses are regulated by the state -- which ABC never mentioned -- and were the subject of a celebrated 1989 case against Universal Distributing Inc. (By the way, how much should regulators force casinos to do to dissuade gamblers from, well, gambling?)
      The report's bathos could not quash the frothing from anti-gaming zealot Frank Wolf, the Virginia congressman who seized upon the ABC piece to implore the FBI and FTC to investigate the industry. ABC's sensationalism encouraged Wolf's pummeling. Ross dramatically told viewers that six hours of recordings of slot manipulator Ron Harris, a former control board technician, are "the secret tapes that have Las Vegas holding its breath." The tapes were made by the attorney general's office, which has been unable to corroborate Harris' claims of influence-peddling or slot-rigging.
      Ross, however, revealed that Las Vegas is -- gasp! -- "a town where people are offered a free casino buffet for cashing their paychecks." And, his piece de resistance, the hectoring gaming critic who told all of America: "Who makes the laws in Nevada? It's the casino industry. They own the town. They own the state. And the question is where in our society would any other business get away with that kind of deception?"
      Oh, I don't know. Maybe the television news business, where the network of the multimillion-dollar Food Lion judgment appears practiced in the art of deception.
      Using anecdotal evidence to make an empirical case is an old and unconscionable journalistic device. Hardly anyone would argue the industry's near-omnipotence in the political system or its cozy relationship with state regulators, even helping some get appointed. And what Harris did with such apparent ease should worry state authorities. But there is no concrete evidence produced by Harris or ABC or anyone else that the control board has been compromised.
      That notwithstanding, the result could be affected, as one observer put it, "by the law of unintended consequences amplified by Murphy's Law. It wasn't as bad as people feared, but when you have enemies. ..."
      And even a blip can have substantial impact on a global industry. For example, on the morning the program was broadcast, Prudential Securities issued an advisory informing clients: "ABC to air negative story on gaming industry." Wonder if any shares were sold as a result.
      The casinos, and the state, also are not helped by the escalating political warfare between Bible and Del Papa. Bible, who was ambushed by Ross and then lighted in such a way as to make him look as sinister as possible, believes the attorney general leaked the tapes to ABC. Del Papa has written an exculpatory letter to state lawmakers, but not everyone in the industry is convinced of her innocence, thanks in part to Bible's campaign.
      Bible's appointment may be safe -- Nevada's senators have put their reputations on the line for him. But whither a hostile national press, so far quiescent in the wake of the ABC report? The anticlimactic broadcast notwithstanding, the political fallout from The Harris Tapes, inside and outside Nevada, will not dissipate anytime soon.
     
     Jon Ralston publishes The Ralston Report, a political newsletter. His column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday.