Nevada Gaming Control Board nominates casino chip counterfeiter to its black book

2022-10-06

United States

Reading time 1:40 min

The Nevada Gaming Control Board has nominated Leonard Morgan, a resident of Las Vegas, to its List of Excluded Persons, commonly known as the 'Black Book' of individuals banned from the state's casinos. If approved, Morgan would become the 37th addition to the list, and the second person included since August. The Gaming Commission is expected to consider his exclusion either later this month or in November.

Hairston has been arrested 34 times and has had multiple felony convictions for theft and manufacturing and passing counterfeit casino chips. In a presentation to the board, Deputy Attorney General John Michela dubbed Hairston as a "serial gaming offender incapable of staying out of trouble."

"Clearly, he’s kind of a menace to our regulatory oversight of the casinos and I would shudder to think how many more agents we might need if there were many others engaging in the levels of criminal activity that this individual has done," said Board Member Philip Katsaros, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Due to the fact that he is an individual who has been convicted multiple times of trying to cheat casinos, Hairston is viewed by the Board as a 'more traditional' nominee to the list, unlike the recent addition of Kendrick Laronte Weatherspoon, who was added to the list in August.

Weatherspoon was the first person to be added to the list that didn't have a history of cheating at gambling or involvement in organized crime. However, after careful consideration, due to his history of assaulting women and forcing them into prostitution at Strip resorts, commissioners voted unanimously to add him to the 'Black Book'.

As previously mentioned, Hairston has committed many offenses. An example of this is from 2004, when according to a police report, Hairston passed two counterfeit $25 Palms chips at the Fremont on Dec. 30. A cage cashier, who was preparing to send chips from other casinos back to their respective properties, noticed the fakes the next day. The edges of the chips were peeling off, and when the cashier peeled back the Palms logo, he found a Dunes logo underneath. The Dunes closed in 1993.

The very next day, Hairston allegedly tried to pass another counterfeit $25 Palms chip at what was then Fitzgeralds, but a cashier noticed it was fake and called casino security. When arrested, officers found two fake $100 Hard Rock Hotel chips and three bogus $100 chips bearing Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, and Luxor logos.