Jun. 12--The integrity of the state's casino industry could be harmed by yet-to-be-proved allegations that Venetian marketers recently rigged a promotional giveaway for an Asian high roller, according to a state gaming regulator and a pair of university professors. 

The question, they say, is how deeply could the episode cut into the state's reputation for offering legitimate games of chance? 

"That's central to Vegas. We might as well close all our shops down if people think the games are dishonest," University of Nevada, Las Vegas Professor Bill Thompson said. 

To Nevada Gaming Control Board member Scott Scherer, there is some nuance to the episode that appears to have resulted in a disgruntled high roller winning an invitation-only drawing for a Mercedes-Benz. 

The unidentified gambler had lost $5 million during a recent visit and investigators believe Venetian marketers may have fixed the promotion, which was to be held for the property's best casino customers. 

The incident led to last week's departure of four Venetian casino employees, including the property's No. 2 executive, Mike French, its senior vice president of operations. 

"If you're playing a slot machine that's rigged or you're playing blackjack or craps or any of the gambling games where you have to make a wager, that's a more serious (violation) than a promotional drawing that you have to enter for free," Scherer said. 

The control board is continuing its investigation into the episode, which state regulators learned of late last month after they were contacted by Venetian executives. 

Venetian lawyer David Friedman failed to return Monday and Tuesday phone messages seeking comment. Phone calls to French's former office were referred to Friedman for comment. 

Control board member Bob Siller said Monday the alleged incident will prompt a larger check of casino promotions elsewhere in the city. 

"I don't know that there's tremendous concern that it's going on systemically," Scherer noted, "but certainly, if it's happening at one property it could be going on elsewhere." 

Word of the investigation prompted University of Nevada, Reno Professor Bill Eadington to question why Venetian executives didn't simply give a free car to the gambler. 

"They certainly would have had the prerogative to give him a gift," he said. "What they were doing on some level was a clever way of making a fellow feel good, making him believe he was not unlucky." 

The episode left Eadington recalling the 1995 case of then-control board computer expert Ron Harris, who was sentenced to state prison after rigging slot machines at several Las Vegas- and Reno-area casinos. 

That incident prompted state officials to seek further examples of cheating on the part of control board employees, which were never found. 

The case prompted a 1997 segment on the ABC News program "20-20" in which Harris claimed that International Game Technology's Megabucks slot game was rigged -- a claim IGT executives have repeatedly denied. 

"If this one were at the light end of the scale, just a way to placate a gambler without defrauding anybody, it's just very bad judgment," Eadington said of The Venetian episode. "On the other hand if it were a broader based raffle marketed to more than one person then you have a parallel to game fixing and race fixing, and then it becomes much more serious. 

"In Nevada, there is almost a paranoia about the integrity of the games." 

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