Despite the summer season, a couple of casinos in Nevada are about to undergo renovations in an effort to deliver better experiences for their customers. This is the case for Mesquite Gaming, the operator of Virgin River hotel and CasaBlanca, two venues that would undergo revamping, a report released by the Las Vegas Review-Journal suggests.

The recently announced reconstructions came after back in March, the operator confirmed that its CasaBlanca hotel and casino will undergo an extensive renovation with a $6 million price tag.

The overhaul will involve the addition of more than 200 slot machines, a revamp of the venue’s center bar together with the addition of a new sports bar, catering to fans of different sports.

Upon announcing the $6 million renovation, Mesquite Gaming said that it plans to keep the property open for the duration of the works which started in May and are expected to be completed in the autumn.

Per the newly released report, the company will revamp its sportsbook at Virgin River. The existing sportsbook will be moved to the venue’s space that was once a movie theater. This will enable Mesquite Gaming to install large 10-foot by 53-foot LDC screens that sports fans can enjoy. The completion of the reconstruction of the sportsbook at the Virgin River hotel is expected at some point during the autumn.

Katherine’s Steakhouse to Undergo Reconstruction

On the other hand, the newly announced renovations will also affect CasaBlanca’s Katherine’s Steakhouse. The venue’s bar will be extended while new carpets and a new lounge will cater to the visitors.

The renovation of Katherine’s Steakhouse at CasaBlanca is expected to start at some point during the summer and be completed three months later. Mesquite Gaming intends to keep the luxury restaurant open for the duration of the renovations.

The company’s CEO, Justin Moore, commented on the topic explaining that visitors to the restaurant “might want an expedited experience.” He pointed out: “Having a nice lounge area where you go in, grab a couple cocktails, maybe get a small bite or enjoy the traditional menu, might be very attractive to people.”

Moore spoke about the importance of investments in Mesquite, St. George and Las Vegas. Finally, he said that the company has identified a number of requests on social media for different amenities, adding that this is why the renovations are a “little bit overdue.”

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The Casablanca Hotel-Casino in Mesquite, Nevada, will need to pay over $2,000 in slots jackpots to Rhon Wilson, a player who was previously kicked out of the venue, but decided to violate the trespass statute, re-enter the casino, and keep gambling.

He Did Now Pay for His Drink

Originally, Wilson was escorted out of the casino because he failed to pay for a drink. However, over the course of the following months, Wilson came back to the casino several times and won slot jackpots on three different occasions.

According to the split 2-to-1 vote from the Nevada Gaming Control Board, the Casablanca casino will have to pay the $2,045.18 jackpot that the gambler won while trespassing the property he had been banned from. The regulator argued that most casino operators would not take the time to track down all of their trespassed patrons who had lost money and pay them back. 

NGBC’s chair and executive director, Kirk Henrick, mentioned the board’s rich history of asking operators to pau patrons who had won a jackpot while also emphasizing that there were no written policies on this topic as part of the regulations. Henrick further explained that, provided a casino’s staff would pose a ban on a patron, it is partially the operator’s responsibility to make sure that the respective patron does not enter the premises without their consent. 

Not Wanting to Award Bad Behavior

However, according to fellow panel member George Assad, the fact that a certain policy has existed for several years should not mean that it should be applied in the present. 

According to the retired Las Vegas Municipal Court’s judge, casinos should focus on discouraging “that type of illegal activity” by not paying trespassers, even if they lose money. Assad reiterated that he does not want to reward “bad behavior.”

Mesquite Gaming LLC’s vice president of security and government affairs, Dick Tomasso, explained to the three-panel members that Wilson preferred to pay a misdemeanor fine and go back to the venue to gamble. 

Tomasso further argued that the patron knew the current gaming enforcement policy would let him hold on to his winnings, based on three past occurrences when he was caught in a similar position of violating a trespass statute. 

The VP of security and government affairs emphasized that the player had broken the law to enter their casino and gamble, thus committing a crime to place a wager, emphasizing the “profound effect” of the board’s ruling on all Nevada licensees. 

This did not convince chairman Hendrick and board member Brittnie Watkins, who considered it more important for licensees to pay jackpots to winning patrons, in spite of being convicted of a misdemeanor. The board’s decision is a final one that does not have to be considered by the Nevada Gaming Commission. The matter will be further addressed at a forthcoming regulatory workshop that will take place on October 18.

At the end of August, Nevada’s gambling regulator reported the total gaming win in July had reached the $1.4 billion mark, showcasing an excellent growth year-over-year.  In July, the same body issued a warning regarding an increase in the number of scams targeting casinos via social engineering tactics.

The post NGCB Rules in Favor of Trespassing Winning Player at the Casablanca Mesquite appeared first on Keno Wizard.

A California man has brought a class action lawsuit against Nevada-based Rancho Mesquite Casinos for failing “to maintain adequate data security”. 

The company operates a number of gaming venues in the United States, including Rising Stars Sports Ranch Resort in Mesquite, The Brook in New Hampshire, and the Eureka casinos in Nevada.

According to the lawsuit, the operator failed to encrypt the personal information of customers and employees leading to “the theft of personal information” of more than 200,000 people during a cyber attack in November 2022.

The hackers were able to access personal data, including the full names, driving license details and Social Security numbers of clients and employees.

However, the update on the lawsuit reveals additional sensitive data including financial account numbers and debit and credit card numbers may have been involved in the breach.

In a letter on November 9, 2022, Rancho Mesquite wrote to clients saying, “Eureka experienced a cyber security incident during which some of our systems were encrypted by an unauthorized actor. Upon discovering the incident, we immediately took steps to secure our systems, began an investigation, and a cyber security firm was engaged to assist.

“Although the investigation is ongoing, we identified certain data that the unauthorized actor accessed during the incident. We began a review of the data and identified that the data included some of your information. Specifically, the data included your name and Social Security number.”

Some customers were more affected than others in the leaks.

The plaintiff, William Houghton, seeks a redress and restitution for the harm that had been caused to him and others as a result of Eureka’s failure “to maintain adequate data security”.

The post Rancho Mesquite Served Class Action Over Casino Data Leaks appeared first on Keno Wizard.

A Southern Nevada casino is now facing a class action lawsuit for allegedly leaving its systems vulnerable and exposing the personal information of hundreds of thousands of customers and employees.

Lack of Timely Notice

Initiated by a California resident who claims his computer was part of a ransomware attack due to the casino security breach, the class action lawsuit accuses the company operating the Rising Star Sports Ranch Resort in Mesquite and The Brook in Seabrook, New Hampshire, of failing to provide the affected with timely and adequate notice, Las Vegas-based 8 News Now reported.

Rancho Mesquite Casino was the victim of a cyberattack in November 2022 during which a hacker accessed sensitive information of more than 200,000 casino customers and company employees, including their full names and social security numbers but it was in December when it sent notices to its clients about the breach.

In a letter sent to those whose personal data was exposed over the course of the several days of the hacker attack and enclosed in the court filing, the company explained that there was “a cybersecurity incident” on November 9 affecting Eureka during which parts of the casino company’s systems “were encrypted by an unauthorized actor.” Eureka Security is an Israeli-based cloud data security provider.

“Upon discovering the incident, we immediately took steps to secure our systems, began an investigation, and a cybersecurity firm was engaged to assist,” wrote the casino company to the affected parties, telling them that “although the investigation is ongoing, we identified certain data that the unauthorized actor accessed during the incident.”

“We began a review of the data and identified that the data included some of your information,” the letter concluded, pointing out that the data exposed to the hacker attack included names and social security numbers. The company also opened a dedicated phone line and offered one year of credit monitoring for those affected.

Negligence and Breach of Contract

The lawsuit accuses the casino operator of negligence, breach of contract and other counts, asking a jury to award monetary damages to the class members for the company’s failure to encrypt their sensitive information, and order the operator to strengthen its cybersecurity defenses.

“Simply put, plaintiff and class members now face substantial risk of out-of-pocket fraud losses such as loans opened in their names, medical services billed in their names, tax return fraud, utility bills opened in their names, credit card fraud, and similar identity theft,” claim the class action lawsuit documents.

The casino operator was repeatedly contacted by the reporting media with a request for comments but did not respond.

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