RSS 2.0 FeedVol. 4, No.9, September 2008, Tumbling Dice
Gaming board fights cuts
That, in a nutshell, is what Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander told the governor’s office in a letter to budget director Andrew Clinger and copied to Josh Hicks, the governor’s chief of staff.
Governor Jim Gibbons has asked all state agencies to put together a snapshot of what a 14 percent reduction in its annual budget would look like. Neilander paints a grim picture.
The biggest fear he expresses in the latter, made public by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is that the perception of diminished regulation could result in the federal government forcing its way into the state’s regulatory picture.
The board has already enacted an 8 percent budget cut this year by eliminating staff positions. Additional cuts would force the board to reduce staff in the audit, enforcement, tax and license and administrative divisions.
“The cut may only be accomplished by drastically reducing staff in those four divisions,” Neilander wrote.
The technology, investigations and corporate securities divisions are funded through fees collected from casino operators.
Ultimately, Neilander said additional budget cuts would require cutting 45 jobs.
“The board simply will not be able to regulate Nevada gaming to the extent to which has been customary and has served the state and its highly revered industry well,” Neilander wrote. “Casinos will be audited less frequently, there will be diminished state presence in gaming properties to perform regulatory and law enforcement functions, there will be less scrutiny on tax and fee
“In short, Nevada’s well-earned reputation would be tarnished, at least, and the industry will suffer a travesty due to inadequate regulation, at worst.”
Hicks said the budget process is in early stages, and noted that “the integrity of the gaming industry and the control board is important to the governor.”
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