Indy Gaming: A look at the three Trump political appointees with Nevada gaming ties
Three Trump nominees, who have been licensed by state gaming regulators, await approval from the Senate while sports betting’s rapid expansion has caused some concern on Capitol Hill.
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Three of President-elect Donald Trump’s announced political appointees have ties to Nevada’s gaming industry — a sign that an industry once stigmatized in the political sphere has entered the mainstream.
The candidates have the benefit of having passed the state’s rigorous gaming regulatory approval process that, while focused on issues different than the Senate will explore in its confirmation process, offers a kind of background check that may bring added assurances to the lawmakers. And the scrutiny they received as gaming licensees has also shed light on their professional setbacks.
Only one designee, billionaire Tilman Fertitta, nominated to serve as U.S. ambassador to Italy, still holds a Nevada gaming license through his privately held Landry’s Inc. The Houston-based company operates Golden Nugget casinos in five states, including Nevada’s Las Vegas, Laughlin and Lake Tahoe resorts.
Two other nominees, Secretary of Commerce-designee Howard Lutnick and Tom Barrack, who was named as ambassador to Turkey, had already given up their licenses.
Trump himself was found suitable — one notch below a full gaming license to operate a casino — by the Gaming Control Board and Nevada Gaming Commission in 2004. He acquired 10 percent of the company that owned the Riviera on the Strip. The finding of suitability would have reduced the investigative time if he ever acquired majority ownership in a casino and sought an operating license.
UNLV history professor Michael Green said that decades ago political figures doubted any Nevadan could appear on the national ticket because there was a stigma associated with gaming. Green noted that Sen. Paul Laxalt (R-NV) raised that concern in 1980 when GOP presidential nominee Ronald Reagan wanted him to be his vice presidential running mate.
“No one seems bothered anymore that people with connections to the gaming industry might be in the White House or a presidential appointee,” Green said, commenting that Trump owned casinos in Atlantic City in the 1980s and 1990s and “some of his top financial angels” included Sheldon and Miriam Adelson and Steve Wynn. Trump’s financial partner in the non-gaming Trump International Hotel is Phil Ruffin, who owns Treasure Island and Circus Circus.
“If you are a Nevadan, that speaks well for how the gaming industry has indeed become, as a study argued in the 1970s, just another business enterprise,” Green said.
Fertitta, who has a net worth of $10 billion according to Forbes, has not publicly announced how he will continue to operate his businesses. In addition to the Golden Nugget casinos, his company owns 520 restaurant and hospitality properties in 36 states. Fertitta also owns the NBA’s Houston Rockets, 9.9 percent of Wynn Resorts and a 6-acre site on the Strip where he plans to build a 2,400-room hotel-casino.
Gaming industry adviser Brendan Bussmann suggested some of those questions may be answered during his Senate confirmation process.
“Once confirmed, Fertitta will have to take a less active role in his activities,” Bussmann, managing partner of Las Vegas-based B2 Global, wrote in an email, suggesting that the CEO would have to scale back on some of his obligations to Landry’s. “While the confirmation process and the licensure process differ, it highlights the different aspects each will be investigated on their background.”
Lutnick, who rose to prominence as the chairman and CEO of financial services giant Cantor Fitzgerald, was licensed by Nevada regulators when sportsbook operator Cantor Gaming was licensed in 2006. Eight years later, Lutnick signed off on a $5.5 million fine as part of a stipulated settlement agreement with the control board that nearly cost Cantor its gaming license. The company’s top race and sports book official admitted to being an agent for an illegal betting operation and had accepted almost $35 million in illegal wagers.
In 2020, the business — renamed CG Technology — was acquired by William Hill US.
Barrack, who founded the private equity firm Colony Capital and chaired Trump's 2017 inaugural committee, was licensed by Nevada gaming regulators in 2005 when the investment firm acquired the Las Vegas Hilton, which became part of Colony's casino affiliate, Resorts International Holdings. The recession led to a foreclosure on the property, which was eventually acquired by Westgate Resorts.
Another Barrack-led gaming deal was the 2007 purchase of Station Casinos in which Colony and the company’s founding Fertitta family — cousins of Tilman Fertitta — launched a $772 million acquisition to take the casino operator private. Two years later, Station Casinos filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, Colony lost its investment and the company emerged as the publicly traded Red Rock Resorts.
Despite the setbacks for Lutnick and Barrack, gaming historian and author David G. Schwartz said the background suitability investigations by Nevada gaming regulators suggest the Senate could quickly vet the nominations.
“I think this speaks to the broad range of those who own and invest in the gaming industry,” Schwartz wrote in an email. “While it was once a fairly niche business, gaming now attracts investors who have had success in a variety of sectors.”
Six U.S. ambassadors had ties to the state starting with Henry Worthington, Nevada's first member of Congress, according to an article by the late journalist Dennis Myers. Worthington served as ambassador (then called minister) to Uruguay and the Argentine Republic from 1868 to 1869.
Nevada’s two most recent ambassadors were former Sen. Chic Hecht (R-NV), who served as ambassador to the Bahamas from 1989 to 1994, and Republican political consultant Sig Rogich, who served briefly as ambassador to his native Iceland in 1992.
Sports betting could face congressional scrutiny in 2025
As Congress wrapped up its business in December, two events signaled that sports betting is on the minds of federal lawmakers heading into 2025.
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing Dec. 17 that focused on the excessive marketing and advertising associated with sports betting, including the activity’s association with problem gambling and anecdotes about alleged harassment of college athletes by losing gamblers.
Committee Chairman Richard Durbin (D-IL) said Congress needs to look into the effects sports betting has on society. The activity is legal in 39 states and Washington, D.C., with legalization efforts expected to occur this year in California and Texas, the nation’s two largest states without legal sports betting.
NCAA President Charlie Baker told the committee that wagering on a college athlete’s performance — such as number of points scored in a game — currently legal in 19 states, should be outlawed. He also advocated for a crackdown on illegal and unregulated off-shore sports betting sites.
David Rebuck, former director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, said state regulation continues to improve and federal oversight isn’t warranted.
“What we’ve done in sports wagering as a regulator sets the bar higher than any other form of legalized gambling," Rebuck said. “That doesn’t mean we’re done. What it means is we are going to push it further.”
Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Carlo Santarelli agreed with Rebuck’s opinion on state efforts to regulate sports betting. In a research note, he wrote that “regulatory and media scrutiny around the [sports betting] industry is elevated.”
American Gaming Association spokesman Joe Maloney complained the hearing didn’t include a sports betting industry representative who could have testified on how “legal gaming protects consumers from the predatory illegal market.”
Meanwhile, on Dec. 5, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Sen. Peter Welch (D-VT) asked the Federal Trade Commission and Department of Justice to investigate DraftKings and FanDuel regarding concerns that the two largest sports betting operators are acting together to pressure businesses not to engage with competitors. Neither company is licensed to operate in Nevada.
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