N.J. official: Trop owner lacking integrity

Nevada gaming regulators plan to take a closer look at last week's decision by their New Jersey counterparts to revoke the gaming license of Columbia Sussex Corp., which had operated the Tropicana Atlantic City for less than a year.

Control of the Boardwalk resort was turned over to a trustee and the property will be sold. Nevada gaming regulators are concerned because Kentucky-based Columbia Sussex operates six hotel-casinos in Nevada, including the Tropicana on the Strip.

Columbia Sussex President Bill Yung III was taken to task throughout the New Jersey Casino Control Commission's 63-page order and opinion.

"Calculus is a marvelous discipline: you start with the answer and work backwards," commissioners wrote. "In certain respects, that was Yung's approach in dealing with the Tropicana. He needed to get to a certain answer, and it matters little whether there was a cogent analysis to justify the outcome."

Commission Chairwoman Linda Kassekert had harsher words for Columbia Sussex executives as a whole.

"There is evidence of outright perjury in the record and evidence of a more subtle kind in its elusiveness," Kassekert said. "This can only lead me to the conclusion that this applicant has failed to meet the requirements of the (Casino Control) Act for honesty, integrity and good character."

Golden Gaming, owner and operator of the PT's branded taverns and four casinos, took a step toward developing a Kansas casino. The Las Vegas-based company won approval for a $600 million project in Wyandotte, Kan., and is competing with three other proposals. The Kansas Lottery Commission won't make a final decision on the Golden Gaming proposal, which includes a Tom Watson-designed golf course, until next year.

Nearly 225 miles southwest in Sumner County, commissioners chose proposals from two smaller gaming operators over plans by MGM Mirage and Harrah's Entertainment.

Future winners of the World Series of Poker's $50,000 buy-in H.O.R.S.E. event will receive the David "Chip" Reese trophy, in honor of the late poker champion who won the tournament's first H.O.R.S.E. event in 2006. Reese, who won three World Series of Poker bracelets and was considered one of poker's greatest cash game players, died Dec. 4.

Bally Technologies spokesman Marcus Prater has resigned to tend to family matters in his home state of Idaho. Prater spent nine years with Bally, witnessing firsthand the financial ups and downs of the slot machine maker. Bally Technologies has resurrected itself on Wall Street over the past 18 months, and Prater has played a key role in that resurgence.

The Inside Gaming column is compiled by Review-Journal gaming and tourism writers Howard Stutz, Benjamin Spillman and Arnold M. Knightly. Send your tips about the gaming and tourism industry to insidegaming@reviewjournal.com.