Trustee Appointed to Run Aladdin Hotel and Casino
The Nevada Gaming Commission appointed a trustee to operate the bankrupt Aladdin Hotel and Casino on Tuesday night, three hours before the resort’s gambling license was due to expire.
The emergency action by the commission allowed the casino at the 1,100-room Las Vegas Strip hotel to remain open and continue operations without interruption.
The five-member commission named certified public accountant Jack Fidelman as trustee, and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Linda Riegle issued the necessary court orders after a late-night, cross-town conference call.
Bill Dougall, the former president of Del Webb Hotels, and his WDT Co. will operate the resort for the trustee. Fidelman and Dougall once worked jointly in a similar situation during an 18-month bankruptcy at the Marina Hotel on the Strip.
The Gaming Commission’s 9 p.m. vote followed an 11-hour, back-to-back meeting of the three-member Gaming Control Board and the commission. Many Aladdin Hotel employees attended the all-day meeting. Many were there to protest the actions of Robert Brooker, a newly appointed general manager who has cut wages and announced layoffs for 400 employees.
The commission action, in effect, ousted Brooker from the $125,000-a-year job which he had held only eight days.
During questioning, Brooker admitted that he had been named general manager by Ginji Yasuda, after the Japanese businessman no longer held a Nevada gambling license at the Aladdin. Yasuda lost his Nevada gambling license by a commission vote Aug. 24. Both the commission and the Gaming Control Board unanimously agreed at Tuesday’s meeting not to extend the license of Yoko Katsumata Yasuda, the wife of Ginji Yasuda.
The Yasudas were the first foreign nationals to be licensed by Nevada to operate a major gambling resort. The state refused to renew their gambling licenses on the grounds that licensing conditions were ignored and that financial loans were obtained from questionable sources.
