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View Full Version : Harrah's Hypocricy


MicroBob
08-30-2004, 09:04 PM
Just comparing those oh-so-touching commercials on the WSOP to control myself while gambling with this little article.
Obviously, this is not the L.V. property, but I thought it was an interesting article.


http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--casinos-problemga0825aug25,0,7558733,print.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire


Casino to pay fine for marketing to problem gamblers


By DAVID A. LIEB
Associated Press Writer

August 25, 2004, 4:12 PM EDT

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A Harrah's casino will pay $40,000 in state fines for marketing violations, including mailing promotional materials to problem gamblers who had voluntarily banned themselves from Missouri casinos.

Members of the Missouri Gaming Commission approved the fines Wednesday while expressing outrage about the promotional practices of Harrah's North Kansas City casino.

Harrah's general manager Bill Keena said the company considers the violations serious but has taken corrective action and will pay the fines without an appeal.

"I'm admitting we did something wrong and we have since fixed those issues," said Keena, who also oversees Harrah's casino in Maryland Heights, a St. Louis suburb. "We made some mistakes and .... we're not going to let those issues crop up at our properties again."

According to the preliminary disciplinary order approved by the Gaming Commission, Harrah's North Kansas City acquired the names of 29,000 potential new customers from two marketing firms. But Harrah's failed to cross-reference the names with the roughly 7,300 people listed on Missouri's casino-exclusion list.

People who voluntarily place their names on the exclusion list are banned for life from Missouri casinos and aren't supposed to receive direct marketing materials from casinos.

At least six people on the voluntary casino-exclusion list complained to the Gaming Commission about receiving the marketing materials from Harrah's in May. A subsequent investigation by Harrah's showed the marketing mailings could have gone to as many as 260 problem gamblers barred from casinos.

"I see this as a very serious violation," said commissioner Ralph Biele, of Jefferson City. "A violation such as this is inexcusable."

Other commission members expressed similar sentiments.

"Casinos have got to be careful, because these people do have problems, and we don't want to increase their problems," said commissioner Jack Gant, of Kansas City.

Harrah's was fined $25,000 for mailing the marketing materials to problem gamblers, and an additional $15,000 for failing to tell the Gaming Commission in advance of its coupon promotion.

Keena said Harrah's marketing director and database marketing manager _ both named in the Gaming Commission's complaint regarding problem gamblers _ no longer work for Harrah's.

"We have good procedures in place and people chose not to follow those procedures, and consequently there were some actions taken against those people," said Keena, adding that the employees quit.

The Gaming Commission also took preliminary disciplinary action against the President Casino on the Admiral in St. Louis, imposing a $10,000 fine for mailing customer coupons that had not been approved by the commission and which lacked tracking numbers. Some coupons also weren't voided properly when redeemed by customers, the commission said.

MrDannimal
08-31-2004, 12:08 PM
It sounds like it was just a simple mistake of not checking a mailing list they bought against the list of "Do not send" people. Both people involved in the problem were fired.

As a DB programmer, I can easily see how this would happen if people aren't paying close attention.

I think it's a bit of a reach to call Harrah's hypocrites, though.

Gramps
08-31-2004, 03:39 PM
In those spots on ESPN promoting themselves as the leader in responsible gaming (or whatever they call it), I like the part where they give out the phone number to call. In any other advertising, where they WANT you to remember that number, they make it some easy to remember number - often by matching the numbers to some word (e.g. 1-800-HARRAHS).

For some odd reason, they don't do it in those spots...I'm starting to think Harrah's/ESPN are just doing that for image reasons...but I know corporations would never do that, so it must not be the case...