The State : Gaming Records Opened

Both sides in Nevada Sen. Paul Laxalt’s $250-million libel case won an important victory when a federal judge upheld subpoenas seeking access to the state’s confidential gaming records. Nevada authorities had opposed the subpoenas on grounds that making the records public would disrupt the state’s ability to regulate the casino industry, but lawyers for both Laxalt and the defendant McClatchy Newspapers chain said they needed such access to prepare their cases for trial. Laxalt, a Republican, sued the Sacramento-based McClatchy papers after publication of an article that said the Internal Revenue Service had evidence of skimming at a casino controlled by the Laxalt family in the 1970s.