Thursday, April 10, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Binion's poker seat contest on Web studied

State gaming regulators are investigating whether an Internet contest promoting pay-per-view telecasts of the World Series of Poker on the Binion's Horseshoe Web site could be considered an illegal lottery, officials said Wednesday.

After a Horseshoe lawyer was notified Tuesday afternoon that the contest might be considered a lottery, the property removed the contest offer from its Internet site, binions.com.

Early Tuesday, the Web site was offering two separate packages to people interested in paying to watch on computer the final table of the tournament's championship event, slated for May 23.

One option offered a live webcast of the final table action for $29.95. The second option offered the same live webcast plus a chance to win a seat at the $10,000-entry championship event along with lodging at Binion's and limo transportation, for $49.95.

The extra $20, in effect, was the cost of entering the contest for a poker tournament seat.

The Web site said a winner would be announced May 12, but it has been changed to eliminate entirely the drawing option, leaving only webcast info.

"It raises the legal issue of whether the contest is a lottery," Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said Wednesday. "We're going to take a look at it. It is officially under investigation."

Neilander noted that Binion's had received guidance from a lawyer, and that the control board's lawyers wanted to discuss the contest with the Horseshoe's counsel.

"We need to give them a chance to explain," he said.

Binion's Horseshoe owner Becky Binion Behnen, husband and marketing executive Nick Behnen and son and property executive Benny Behnen didn't return Wednesday phone messages.

Lionel, Sawyer & Collins lawyer Greg Gemingani said he advised the property on protecting the poker tournament's intellectual property rights. His advice didn't address the contest for the $10,000 World Series seat.

Steve DuCharme, Neilander's immediate predecessor as control board chairman and now a gaming regulatory consultant, said the panel referred a number of promotional contests to the attorney general's office for review when he served on the three-member panel.

"They included contests from major companies like McDonalds," DuCharme said. "The (attorney general's office) then considered the contest in light of the Nevada Supreme Court's definition of a lottery."