Two Utah men who own the Lake Elsinore Casino, which has been operating on temporary licenses for 20 years, are coming under increased scrutiny by the California Gambling Control Commission (CGCC) who want to know more about their finances then they have so far been willing to share. The men, second cousins Ted and Joseph Kingston have been linked to a polygamous sect that may or may not be an investor in the casino.
The commission is demanding more financial information before it will go forward with the pair’s request for a permanent license. Public records examined by the Salt Lake Tribune shows that the cousins have family and business connections to Davis County Cooperative Society aka the Kingston Group. The latter reportedly believes in polygamy and sharing assets, although Ted Kingston’s attorney strongly contested that his client had any such affiliation in a July letter to the Tribune. He wrote that Kingston “is not, and has never been, involved in polygamy.”
However the CGCC is not interested in that aspect of the organization, at least according to public filings uncovered by the Tribune. The back and forth between the commission and the Kingstons is the demand that the owners supply more information about their finances and ownership history.
The CGCC doesn’t have the authority to enforce its own demands, so its order has been sent to an administrative law judge to review, possibly early next year. Meanwhile, the casino will continue to operate on a temporary license, as it has done for two decades. The issues the judge will be asked to rule on is whether the owners supplied the required data, used incorrect accounting methods and employed a felon in a key position. The latter would violate state law.
The casino, then was known as Sahara Dunes Casino, was purchased in 1991 by the cousins Joseph and Clyde Kingston and Clyde’s son Ted and Joseph’s daughter Michelle Kingston-Knighton. Clyde Kingston died in 2005 and one demand by the commission is evidence for how the shares were conveyed to Ted Kingston. CGCC is very interested in finding out who else might be an investor or part owner.
A previous administrative law judge criticized the commission for delaying the process and not being clear as to what the owners needed to do to apply for licenses. The judge said Ted Kingston should be permitted to resubmit his application.
The commission rejected most of the judge’s recommendations and is seeking new guidance from a different administrative law judge.
Some observers wonder why it has taken the Golden State’s gaming regulators so long to crack down on the Kingstons. Kurt Eggert, a professor at Chapman University’s law school, who is considered an expert on gaming law, called it “astonishing” that the Kingstons have managed to avoid providing information to the commission for 20 years.
He wrote to the Tribune that this inaction was “a huge black eye” for the state’s gaming overseers.
