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Casino Drops Questionable Ad

LAS VEGAS – Sept. 8, 2001 --The owner of the Sam's Town neighborhood casino has stopped running a newspaper ad that state casino industry regulators considered to be untruthful.

Boyd Gaming Corp. stopped running the ad after the Nevada Gaming Control Board questioned a Sam's Town newspaper advertisement that ran in the Review-Journal in February and March.

The ad read: "Figures released by the Gaming Control Board confirm what smart players already know, that, on average, the slots at Sam's town are much looser than those found on the Strip or Downtown Las Vegas."

Regulators questioned the ad's reference to the control board, said Dennis Neilander, the agency's chairman.

The Gaming Control Board does not release property-by-property numbers in its monthly statistics, but it does release slot machine "win percentages" for distinct markets within the state. Downtown Las Vegas and the Strip are two of Clark County's seven listed markets.

The control board doesn't identify the casinos included in each separate market, but Sam's Town is apparently a part of the control board's Boulder Strip market.

"We told them we were concerned with their claim, and they said they'd pull the ad," Neilander said. "We checked it out, and they haven't run the ad."

Boyd Gaming executives were unavailable for comment Friday, but spokesman Rob Stillwell said earlier this year the company stands behind the ad's claim.

Stillwell said the claim is based on both the property's own numbers and the control board figures.

"When compared with the Gaming Control Board's numbers for the Strip and downtown, our numbers show that our slots are looser," Stillwell said.

Meanwhile, a control board investigation continues into an Arizona Charlie's multimedia advertising campaign touting its video poker payouts.

The agency began the inquiry after the two local hotel-casinos began running television, billboard and newspaper ads claiming that: "Hand-for-hand, nobody has more payouts than Arizona Charlie's. Nobody."

The newspaper version of the ad explains in small print that the claim is based on independent surveys taken in October and January. The surveys compared Double Bonus, Jokers Wild and and Deuces Wild video poker machines.

The control board routinely investigates casino advertising to verify its truthfulness, and has historically disallowed ads that claim casino's have the loosest slot machines.

"We weren't comfortable with the ad's claims," Neilander said. "I spoke with the Arizona Charlie's lawyer, and explained that I wasn't really happy with the survey results. I believe they are going to redo the survey, and the matter is still under review."

Arizona Charlie's spokesman Mike Gilmartin said Friday that company executives would not comment on the ad campaign because of the ongoing control board investigation.

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