Friday, January 23, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

CASINO ADVERTISING: Racy Hard Rock ads raise complaint

Regulators charge suggestive signs reflect poorly on gambling industry

This Hard Rock Hotel billboard, from November, targets National Finals Rodeo attendees with the message "Get ready to buck all night." The hotel's ads have drawn a complaint from regulators. REVIEW-JOURNAL FILE PHOTO

Nevada gaming regulators have cracked down on the Hard Rock Hotel and its marketing campaigns, charging in a three-count complaint that the boutique property's sexually suggestive advertising reflects poorly on the gaming industry and the state.

Regulators also allege that the Hard Rock failed to live up to the terms of a 2002 settlement that included a $100,000 fine and resolved an earlier complaint against the property for allowing sexual activity to take place in a nightclub, among other charges.

The 2002 settlement required a mandatory review by Hard Rock compliance officers of any "questionable elements" contained in advertising, but the ads the control board cited were not submitted to compliance officers for review, the complaint filed late Wednesday charges.

The Hard Rock Hotel faces a fine of up to $300,000, or $100,000 per count, because all three members of the Nevada Gaming Control Board believe the property failed to exercise proper discretion in its advertising.

If Hard Rock lawyers aren't able to negotiate a settlement of the complaint, the Nevada Gaming Commission will decide whether the Hard Rock violated state rules as the control board charges, and, if so, mete out punishment.

Hard Rock Hotel President Kevin Kelley said the property takes the control board's charges very seriously.

"If gaming has an issue with us, we take notice," Kelley said. "Our attorneys will evaluate the complaint, and we'll sit down with the Gaming Control Board to try and work it out with them."

Control board Chairman Dennis Neilander said Thursday that the commission can be expected to consider the Hard Rock complaint within a couple of months.

One ad campaign cited in the seven-page complaint deals with billboards featuring a woman lying on a gaming table next to the slogan "There's always a temptation to cheat," which the board argued conveyed the message that cheating at gaming is acceptable at the Hard Rock.

The board criticized several sexually suggestive ads, arguing they violated a gaming regulation that cites an operator's "failure to conduct advertising and public relations in accordance with decency, dignity, good taste, honesty and inoffensiveness" as an unsuitable method of operation.

One of the suggestive ads was a billboard that ran during the National Finals Rodeo and featured a barely clad woman with her panties around her ankles. The slogan read: "Get ready to buck all night."

A cited radio ad implied that the possession of large quantities of prescription stimulants and having wives in two states was acceptable activity for Hard Rock patrons, the board argued.

Asked whether the board was overreacting to ads clearly intended to be humorous, Neilander cited the board's role as prosecutor of the complaint and declined to comment on the charges' merits.

Former control board Chairman Steve DuCharme said if the Hard Rock previously agreed to let a compliance committee review questionable ads, but didn't live up to the agreement, the property will have a tough time defending its actions.

"If they signed a stipulation and agreed that they'd review (the ads), but didn't do it, they really don't have an argument," DuCharme said.

But the former chairman said the complaint's counts referring to the sexually suggestive ads will be more difficult for the panel to prove.

"That is tough," DuCharme said. "Las Vegas in the old days was built on staying up all night, topless reviews, and -- (Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority boss) Manny Cortez' objections notwithstanding -- its reputation as Sin City, and it's got to be very hard for one person to presume to be a moral arbiter for the state of Nevada."

In other words, one man's bad taste could be another's satire, parody or humor, he said.

Kelley said he'd like regulators to let operators know just what they don't want to see in casino advertisements.

"We're looking for some direction, some clarity," Kelley said.