Dotty’s files lawsuit against commission
Members of the Clark County Commission last month struck a “private deal” to overhaul the county’s tavern regulations without including the business that prompted the action — an unfair exclusion that destroyed the company’s business model, lawyers representing Dotty’s taverns said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Some commissioners hammered out the changes with representatives from the resort association and the tavern owner’s group the night before the full commission voted 5-2 to change the regulations, said lawyers for Nevada Restaurant Services, operator of 70 Dotty’s taverns with 1,200 slot machines statewide.
“Even after this eleventh-hour deal was struck, there were more changes still in the process of being considered and reworked, making it impossible for the county to identify the terms of the ordinance,” attorneys said in court papers.
The company claims its due process rights were violated by the April 5 vote, which changed regulations that govern slot machines in taverns. Complying with the new regulations would violate the company’s “reasonable expectation of entitlement to continue to operate without the costly retrofitting obligations that the ordinance imposes,” the company said in court papers.
Dotty’s wants a U.S. District Court judge to stop enforcement of the new ordinance and overturn the commissioners’ decision. Executives of the company declined comment on the lawsuit, referring questions to their attorneys.
In the lawsuit, attorneys said Dotty’s business became an issue after it “caught the eye of” Station Casinos, Boyd Gaming Corp. and the Nevada Resort Association.
They also called Commissioner Steve Sisolak “the public face of the anti-Dotty’s crusade.”
Sisolak said Wednesday that Dotty’s “has the right to exercise their legal choices.”
Resort Association President Virginia Valentine said the group was “reviewing the lawsuit” even though the organization was not named in the complaint.
The dispute hinges on the county’s desire to prevent the spread of pocket casinos where gaming is the intent, rather than eating, drinking and occasional gaming. Dotty’s critics contend the business skirts state law because gaming revenues are not incidental to the primary business.
Clark County audits last year found gaming revenues accounted for more than 90 percent of the cash flow at several of the Dotty’s locations. The taverns do not have kitchens, but offer prepackaged food and minimal beverage options at a service counter, and the slot machines are all slant-top models with individual chairs.
Under the new ordinance, new taverns must be at least 2,000 feet from another tavern, have 2,500 square feet of public space, operate a kitchen at least 12 hours a day and have a bar with eight slot machines. State law allows taverns and other restricted locations to have as many as 15 slot machines.
The ordinance also gives existing taverns — including Dotty’s — two years to add bars with eight embedded slot machines.
Commissioners amended the ordinance after the Nevada Resort Association, two slot machine route operation companies, the Nevada Tavern Owners Association and one of the valley’s largest tavern operators backed the changes.
Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871.
Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.