In April, the Hard Rock agreed to pay a $300,000 fine – the maximum permitted by state law – to settle the Gaming Control Board complaint about Hard Rock advertising filed in January.
There were two ads addressed in the settlement, both published in the Las Vegas Weekly. One ad showed a man and a woman on a gaming table, surrounded by playing cards and poker chips, with the caption, “There’s always a temptation to cheat.”
The other ad read, “At the Hard Rock Hotel, we believe in your Monday night rights: large quantities of prescription stimulants (and) having wives in two states … Tell your wives you are going; if they are hot, bring them along.”
The original Gaming Control Board complaint cited two ads, in billboards and publications.
One, which appeared in billboards and publications just prior to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, depicted a woman shown from the knees down with her underwear falling to her angles, with the text saying, “Get ready to buck all night.”
The other, again displayed in both billboards and publications last summer, showed a naked woman holding a pair of dice over her nipples, with the caption reading, “We sell used dice.”
Senior Deputy Attorney General Toni Cowan, who filed the original complaint on behalf of the Gaming Control Board, said the sexual content of the ads was not the primary issue, but the public raised the issue on those billboards and others around the city at the same time the complaint was filed.
The settlement addressed inferences of the Hard Rock condoning cheating at gambling and illegal drug use. It also directed the Hard Rock to pay closer attention to an in-house compliance committee to review “questionable elements” of its promotional materials.
