Hard Rock Las Vegas Settles Drug Charges for $650,000

Las Vegas will Rock a little less Hard for the foreseeable future. 

The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas has a pretty solid reputation as one of Sin City’s premier party places – and it seems it’s a reputation that’s well-deserved if the hotel’s recent settlement with the Nevada Gaming Control Board is anything to go by.

The NGCB accepted a $650,000 settlement with the Hard Rock yesterday over charges that the casino’s employees sold drugs to patrons and let them use private nightclub bathrooms for sex and drug use. Among the charges included in the case against the Hard Rock were that undercover police officers paid security guards $80 to allow them to smoke marijuana in a bathroom, and that they were able to buy cocaine and ecstasy from nightclub hosts on multiple occasions. One such incident reportedly involved a nightclub host arranging the sale of 7.2 grams of cocaine to police officers in exchange for a kickback.

The $650,000 settlement – $500,000 as punishment, $150,000 to reimburse the NGCB and police for their investigation – didn’t require the Hard Rock to admit to the charges, which allowed it to avoid a hearing where its gaming license could have been revoked. However, the casino was required to state for the record that regulators would have been able to prove their case had a hearing been held. Joseph Magliarditi, the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino’s CEO, released a statement saying that the hotel takes the issues seriously. “We remain committed to conducting our operations in accordance with all gaming regulatory requirements,” he said.