Three years after Watertown Mayor Jeffrey E. Graham surrendered his bar's Quick Draw license to avoid a state lottery investigation, the permitting agency has decided to give it back.
John E. Charlson, Lottery spokesman, said his agency's licensing unit granted a license for the keno-like video game to Fort Pearl "based on the application and a number of character references" for Mr. Graham and Gerald M. Burkhard, the bar's president and majority owner.
Mr. Charlson said Mr. Graham argued in a letter that, among other things, his decisive victory in the last mayoral race and an endorsement during that campaign by the Watertown Daily Times were grounds for reinstatement.
The spokesman said the licensing board took into consideration that Mr. Graham was once the focus of an investigation and that his application had been denied before.
The Lottery's probe was launched in February 2005 following a Times story about John R. Breen Jr., the former stepfather of international supermodel and Watertown High School graduate Maggie Rizer, who lost $7 million of her money playing the keno-like video game.
Mr. Breen, who served 21/2 years in state prison for a grand larceny conviction, accused Mr. Graham of:
■ Allowing Quick Draw winners to cash in their tickets at Fort Pearl, then known as the Speak Easy, for 80 cents on the dollar, rather than going to the Lottery's Syracuse office.
■ Recording Quick Draw games on videotape and running them when games were temporarily suspended in 1999.
■ Running tabs for Mr. Breen and holding bad checks until the gambler could make good on them, which eventually forced the mayor to seek a loan to cover the cash shortfall in his Quick Draw account.
Mr. Graham voluntarily surrendered his license in March 2005 after the Lottery said it would investigate Mr. Breen's claims.
The mayor said Fort Pearl, 557 Pearl St., has had Quick Draw since Friday; he applied for reinstatement in January.
"I'm just happy to have it back and happy to be selling tickets," he said. "Having had it before, it's a helpful part of business and it will be again."
The mayor declined to name his character references.
Mr. Charlson said the license was granted jointly to Mr. Graham and Mr. Burkhard. All licenses are good for an indefinite period, but are subject to revocation at any time.
