Tom Griffith Journal staff http://rapidcityjournal.com/
DEADWOOD | Facing the most severe penalties ever imposed by the South Dakota Commission on Gaming, a spokesman for the Four Aces Casino said Thursday it would formally request a re-hearing on issues that led the commission to impose a $25,000 fine and 15-day suspension of the operation’s gaming license.
Four Aces attorney Roger Tellinghuisen of the Rapid City firm of DeMerssman, Jensen, Tellinghuisen & Huffman said the casino had received the commission’s decision in writing on Monday, triggering a 10-day period in which the Four Aces had to petition the commission for a re-hearing or challenge the decision in circuit court.
Citing a failure to provide accurate, complete and legible revenue reports dating back to 2008, the Gaming Commission conducted an hour-long administrative hearing Nov. 20, then voted unanimously to levy the fine and suspend the casino’s gaming license.
Aberdeen-based Platinum Ventures LLC, owner of the Four Aces, subsequently vowed to appeal the commission’s decision to circuit court, the only avenue available to it under state statute.
Tellinghuisen said the Four Aces would file a petition for a re-hearing sometime next week.
“The Gaming Commission has agreed to a stay of their decision pending the commission’s decision on our petition for review,” he said. “If they should deny that petition, they have agreed to a stay of the decision until an appeal to circuit court has been completed.”
The attorney said Four Aces appreciated the commission’s willingness to stipulate to a stay pending a review of its decision, meaning as many as 50 casino employees whose jobs were threatened by the license suspension just weeks before Christmas could stay on the job through the holidays.
If the re-hearing is granted, Tellinghuisen said the Four Aces would provide “a more prepared response than was initially provided to the commission. They will come to know that there is more to this story than they were led to believe at the initial hearing.”
If the commission does not respond to or denies the petition for a re-hearing, Tellinghuisen said Four Aces would appeal the penalties to the Lawrence County Fourth Judicial Circuit Court in Deadwood by the end of the month.
Calls to the South Dakota Commission on Gaming in Pierre and Deadwood were not returned Thursday.
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