Nevada Gaming Commission member Steven Cohen said Thursday he wouldn’t seek reappointment to the five-person board, giving Gov. Joe Lombardo another opportunity to shape the state’s regulatory agency.

The part-time commission makes the final decision on licensing and other regulatory matters based on recommendations from the full-time Nevada Gaming Control Board.

Cohen, a Las Vegas attorney, was appointed to the four-year seat by former Gov. Steve Sisolak and his term expires at the end of the month. He served as the board’s vice chairman.

In January, Lombardo appointed former state Treasurer and Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki to the commission to fill out the remaining few months of the term vacated by Ben Kieckhefer, who became the governor’s chief of staff.

The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the gaming commission appointment.

“Four years is grueling and four years is enough,” Cohen said at the end of Thursday’s monthly gaming commission meeting, thanking current and former commissioners and current and former control board members. “I wish to thank everyone connected with these two agencies and allowing me to serve in this capacity.”

Commission Chairwoman Jennifer Togliatti, who was appointed by Sisolak in 2021, thanked Cohen for being “the first person to offer help [and] the first person to be available to me. I've always appreciated it.”

Lombardo appointed two of the three members of the control board shortly after taking office – chairman Kirk Hendrick and member George Assad.

Cohen’s law practice is primarily devoted to civil litigation, commercial real estate transactions and advising business owners on legal issues.

In the 1990s, he represented former Frontier Hotel-Casino owner Margaret Elardi and her family during the nearly six-and-a-half-year strike by Culinary Workers Local 226, the longest strike in U.S. history.