State probed high Quick Draw sales figures, found no contract breach
State probed high Quick Draw sales figures, found no contract breach
by Chris Garifo , Times Albany Correspondent
First published: Sunday, February 6, 2005 ALBANY -
State lottery officials investigated the owners of the Speak Easy and Kegler's Lounge during the period John R. Breen Jr. was spending his stepdaughter's money to play Quick Draw, but found nothing that would breach their contracts, a government source says.
The state Division of the Lottery studies data from all of its games on a daily basis, so the unusually high Quick Draw sales figures being posted by the local taverns in 2001 and 2002 were investigated, said the source on condition of anonymity.
Quick Draw started in 1995, and in the first 47 months it was played at the Speak Easy, the tavern took in $2.8 million in sales. Over the following 19 months - January 2001 through July 2002 - the tavern raked in nearly $2.4 million in Quick Draw sales, only 17 percent less than what was pulled in over a period more than twice as long.
Sales fluctuations are not unusual among the state's 16,000 retailers that participate in Quick Draw, said Jennifer L. Mauer, a Lottery Division spokeswoman.
"Unless there was a breach of contract, the Lottery doesn't interfere with their right to operate their business," Ms. Mauer said. "Each retailer operates their own business and the lottery is part of that."
The Lottery Division knows nothing about allegations Mr. Breen has made about playing Quick Draw at the Speak Easy, such as being given free drinks while playing and running a tab on games that would be paid off later or out of winnings. While running a tab is not a violation of Quick Draw rules, the Lottery "does not encourage" the practice, Ms. Mauer said.
Ms. Mauer also said she had heard nothing about the allegation that Speak Easy owner Jeffrey E. Graham had taped Quick Draw games that he replayed in 1999 during the four months - April through July - that the game was not permitted because the state Legislature hadn't passed a budget measure needed to extend it another year.
It also has not received an allegation from Mr. Breen that Mr. Graham gave him the code to turning on the game at the Paddock Club, a bar once owned by Mr. Graham.
"The lottery works very hard to ensure the integrity of all of our games," Ms. Mauer said. "Attempts to use our machines in a manner not in accordance with the terms of the agreement between the Lottery and our retailer would most likely result in a loss of machine or in some other action in accordance with the severity of the grievance."
According to state liquor law, bars and taverns are prohibited from serving a patron unlimited drinks for a single price.
If a tavern operator used tapes of Quick Draw games to promote on-premise gambling, local police likely would have to investigate that, said Kimberly Morella, a spokeswoman for the state Liquor Authority.
Monitoring bars and taverns to spot instances of problem gambling is not necessarily the Lottery Division's responsibility, said James J. Maney, executive director of the New York Council on Problem Gambling.
"Their responsibility is to put the game on," he said. "The other responsibility is all of ours to make sure there are safeguards in place."
People in the taverns where Mr. Breen played almost certainly knew something wrong was going on, Mr. Maney said.
"This wasn't a new guy walking into a bar and no one had ever seen him before and he started putting money down on the bar," he said. "If this guy was bleeding from the shoulder, somebody at the bar would have done something, right?"
The best way to prevent future John Breens is to increase awareness of problem gambling, Mr. Maney said.
"Our society does not have the awareness, the ability to deal with this situation before it gets bad," he said. "Many people saw warning signs of problem gambling in this person."