Casino Night: That’s Not “Aull”
Filed Thursday, August 2, 2007 at 12:00 PM
READ IT HERE FIRST
As we first reported yesterday, State Senator Jeff Smith was issued a summons Tuesday night for gambling at the Isle of Capri Casino in Booneville using someone else’s identification, a Class B misdemeanor. Smith told PubDef.net that an Isle of Capri employee gave him someone else’s player card so that he could enter the casino even though he didn’t have his identification on him (ID is needed for a card).
We also learned last night that that employee had been fired. As it turns out, that “employee” was in fact a lobbyist for the Isle of Capri and that “someone else” whom the card belonged to was State Representative Joe Aull (D-Marshall).
Sources tell PubDef that Smith would have gotten away with playing on Aull’s card had it not been for his Blackberry addiction.
Those who have seen Smith either in person or on the big screen know that the freshman senator is more often than not seen with his Blackberry close by his ear. That’s a no-no at the card table.
According to a source close to the situation, Smith was thumbing his phone at the Texas Hold ‘em table when a gaming official told him that was not allowed (some people use the devices to cheat, you know). They then asked for his ID to make sure his name was not in the list of known cheaters. That’s when they noticed Smith was not “Aull” he appeared.
PubDef has filed a request with the Gaming Commission for a copy of the casino surveillance tape to see for ourselves what happened.
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