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News Article: New Jersey Casino President Put On Leave To Treat
Gambling Addiction
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -(Dow Jones)- A troubled executive who was promoted
to president of Caesars Atlantic City Hotel Casino despite a gambling
problem has been given a leave of absence to be treated for it,
officials said Wednesday.
Gary DiBartolomeo, 45, of Margate, N.J.,
who admitted his problem to regulators and agreed to attend weekly
meetings of Gamblers Anonymous as a condition of his license renewals in 1995
and 1997, is being investigated by the state Division of Gaming
Enforcement for violating the ban, Deputy Attorney General James Fogarty said,
according to the Associated Press.
The state Casino Control
Commission voted 4-1 Wednesday to let Park Place Entertainment Corp.,
which owns Caesars, put DiBartolomeo on a six-month leave to seek
treatment for what he called a "medical condition."
"While I view
this as an intensely private matter between myself and my family, I am
receiving treatment to assist me in overcoming a compulsive conditi!
on related to gaming," he said in a statement issued by Park Place
(PPE).
In New Jersey, executive-level casino employees are
forbidden from gambling in casinos. However, they may gamble in other states,
the AP said.
According to Casino Control Commission documents
obtained Wednesday, state investigators tried to block DiBartolomeo's
license renewal in 1995, when he was vice president of customer
development for Trump Taj Mahal, citing his gambling, his record as a scofflaw
and his failure to cooperate with investigators.
According to
the DGE, DiBartolomeo in 1993 took out more than $25,000 in
high-interest loans to cover gambling losses at Bally's in Las Vegas, the Crystal
Palace in the Bahamas and the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Conn.
DiBartolomeo could have received better interest rates, but the lenders
offering them required his spouse to co-sign the loans and he didn't
want her to find out about the losses, the AP reported.
!
He told Division of Gaming Enforcement investigators in 1995 that he
hadn't gambled since December 1993, but the probe showed that he had
"incurred significant financial debt as the result of gambling."
DiBartolomeo, a native of Philadelphia, moved to New Jersey in 1972 but
never obtained a driver's license until it threatened to interfere with
his casino license renewal in 1994. In 1985, he pleaded guilty to
driving with a revoked driver's permit and was fined $500, but didn't pay
until the fine was referred for collection. He also ran up thousands of
dollars' worth of fines from parking tickets he ignored. Taken together,
those actions demonstrated "a cavalier attitude" toward motor vehicle
laws that called into question his character and his ability to function
in New Jersey's tightly regulated casino industry, Deputy Attorney
General Dorothy Turi said.
It wasn't clear Wednesday whether Park
Place officials knew about his gambling when they promoted DiBa!
rtolomeo from his job as vice president of national marketing. Park
Place spokeswoman Sharon Pearce said she wasn't aware of the previous
commission actions on DiBartolomeo, the AP reported.
She declined
comment on whether the leave of absence was timed to coincide with an
upcoming vote on Caesars' license. On June 7, the commission will hold a
hearing on whether to renew the casino's license.
Fogarty
told casino commissioners he wasn't sure Caesars could be relicensed if
DiBartolomeo were still president. To renew the license, regulators would
have to find that he possessed the "good character, honesty and
integrity" required by state casino law.
Gambling Addiction
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -(Dow Jones)- A troubled executive who was promoted
to president of Caesars Atlantic City Hotel Casino despite a gambling
problem has been given a leave of absence to be treated for it,
officials said Wednesday.
Gary DiBartolomeo, 45, of Margate, N.J.,
who admitted his problem to regulators and agreed to attend weekly
meetings of Gamblers Anonymous as a condition of his license renewals in 1995
and 1997, is being investigated by the state Division of Gaming
Enforcement for violating the ban, Deputy Attorney General James Fogarty said,
according to the Associated Press.
The state Casino Control
Commission voted 4-1 Wednesday to let Park Place Entertainment Corp.,
which owns Caesars, put DiBartolomeo on a six-month leave to seek
treatment for what he called a "medical condition."
"While I view
this as an intensely private matter between myself and my family, I am
receiving treatment to assist me in overcoming a compulsive conditi!
on related to gaming," he said in a statement issued by Park Place
(PPE).
In New Jersey, executive-level casino employees are
forbidden from gambling in casinos. However, they may gamble in other states,
the AP said.
According to Casino Control Commission documents
obtained Wednesday, state investigators tried to block DiBartolomeo's
license renewal in 1995, when he was vice president of customer
development for Trump Taj Mahal, citing his gambling, his record as a scofflaw
and his failure to cooperate with investigators.
According to
the DGE, DiBartolomeo in 1993 took out more than $25,000 in
high-interest loans to cover gambling losses at Bally's in Las Vegas, the Crystal
Palace in the Bahamas and the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Conn.
DiBartolomeo could have received better interest rates, but the lenders
offering them required his spouse to co-sign the loans and he didn't
want her to find out about the losses, the AP reported.
!
He told Division of Gaming Enforcement investigators in 1995 that he
hadn't gambled since December 1993, but the probe showed that he had
"incurred significant financial debt as the result of gambling."
DiBartolomeo, a native of Philadelphia, moved to New Jersey in 1972 but
never obtained a driver's license until it threatened to interfere with
his casino license renewal in 1994. In 1985, he pleaded guilty to
driving with a revoked driver's permit and was fined $500, but didn't pay
until the fine was referred for collection. He also ran up thousands of
dollars' worth of fines from parking tickets he ignored. Taken together,
those actions demonstrated "a cavalier attitude" toward motor vehicle
laws that called into question his character and his ability to function
in New Jersey's tightly regulated casino industry, Deputy Attorney
General Dorothy Turi said.
It wasn't clear Wednesday whether Park
Place officials knew about his gambling when they promoted DiBa!
rtolomeo from his job as vice president of national marketing. Park
Place spokeswoman Sharon Pearce said she wasn't aware of the previous
commission actions on DiBartolomeo, the AP reported.
She declined
comment on whether the leave of absence was timed to coincide with an
upcoming vote on Caesars' license. On June 7, the commission will hold a
hearing on whether to renew the casino's license.
Fogarty
told casino commissioners he wasn't sure Caesars could be relicensed if
DiBartolomeo were still president. To renew the license, regulators would
have to find that he possessed the "good character, honesty and
integrity" required by state casino law.