Longtime Nevada gaming regulator hanging up the calculator after 4 decades in industry
In the decades that I’ve covered Nevada’s gaming industry, I’ve only dealt with two economic analysts from the Gaming Control Board who provided the monthly gaming revenue results — Frank Streshley and Michael Lawton. Streshley retired in 2010, and 15 years later, Lawton is hanging up the calculator.
Michael Lawton has viewed his job as the Gaming Control Board’s senior economic analyst as a customer service role. Since 2010, he’s provided Nevada’s monthly and year-end gaming revenue results — which have ranged from all-time lows set during the pandemic to record highs reached in the last two years.
No matter whom he spoke with — Wall Street analysts, journalists, state lawmakers or Nevada’s Economic Forum — Lawton said his goal was to provide “an intelligent analysis” of what’s happening with the state’s casino industry and explain various trends.
Lawton, 53, is retiring from the control board next week after serving as a gaming agent, auditor and economic analyst for parts of four decades. For now, he hasn’t solidified any future plans. The gaming industry was always part of his life while growing up in Northern Nevada, given his father worked at Harrah’s Tahoe and Harrah’s Reno.
“I was always around gaming,” Lawton said. “Whenever my dad met someone, they'd always want to talk about his job. That kind of stuck with me. I always thought gaming was a fascinating industry. I didn't realize at the time how important it was to the state. It’s the cornerstone for everything that happens here.”
The control board’s monthly and year-end revenue reports gave Lawton a chance to delve beyond the raw numbers and investigate trends and other factors. Lawton said he developed relationships with casino industry operatives who offered background insight on the monthly results, such as whether a major concert in Las Vegas helped boost numbers. His analysis has been helpful to reporters and gaming analysts in explaining the highs, the lows and everything in between.
“I’ve always provided the monthly [research] notes to anyone who asked,” Lawton said, adding the January 2025 control board revenue release was the last of the 173 monthly statements he’s produced, a figure that also includes the state’s annual fiscal year gaming abstract, a financial analysis of nonrestricted gaming licensees producing $1 million or more in gaming revenue that covers gaming and non-gaming spending.
Lawton graduated from UNLV in 1993 from the William F. Harrah School of Hotel Administration, which led to a position at The Mirage through the school’s management program. He began by learning table games, which led to moving to the high-end baccarat room where he became a supervisor. Lawton transferred to the Bellagio in 1998 and helped open the Strip resort’s baccarat room.
Seeking a lifestyle change away from working weekends and holidays after having started a family, Lawton moved to the control board as a gaming agent and auditor.
“I went from the Bellagio [on the Strip] to doing a bingo audit on Water Street [in Henderson],” Lawton said.
However, his experience from watching the activity in the Bellagio’s high-end baccarat room helped once he took over the reporting of monthly gaming revenue totals. The volatility of baccarat winnings — often swayed by just a handful of high-end players — can swing the Strip and state monthly revenue totals up or down.
“There are a handful of customers that play baccarat to a level that moves the needle in one direction,” Lawton said. “You often don’t know when they’re coming and it’s only at a small number of properties.”
During his career, Lawton has worked with eight different control board chairs. Because of the relationships he built over the years with Nevada media, the chair would rely on Lawton to offer statements from the board on various topics outside of the typical revenue release.
Lawton often thinks back to his first gaming job at The Mirage. He was a freshman at UNLV when the Strip resort opened in 1989 and was amazed because it was different from any other Strip resort.
He visited the property one last time before it closed last July.
“I always thought the palm tree logo was brilliant,” he said, adding that he purchased a $5 chip with the design.
Penn & Teller go from the showroom to Rio’s casino floor with a table game
After several years of development and a successful field trial, a table game loosely based on the three-card monte street game is ready for the casino floor.
And with longtime Las Vegas headliners Penn & Teller lending their names and images, David Anthony, the president and cofounder of Adventura Gaming, believes “Penn & Teller Casino Monte” will find a willing audience.
The irreverent magicians celebrated the launch of the table game last week at the Rio Casino and Hotel with a magic trick. The game is the same casino where Penn Jillette and Teller (who changed his name to just Teller), have been headliners inside the theater that bears their name since 2001.
Anthony said Casino Monte is the first game for the Las Vegas-based company, which is in various stages of developing other table games. Having Penn & Teller lending their names and the Rio offering floor space ensures the game gets attention from customers. An image of Penn & Teller appears on the gaming table.
In Casino Monte, which features a dealer, players bet on which of three face-down cards dealt from a shoe will be the high card. A dice roll determines which card is exposed first.
Players can raise their bets before the other two cards are turned over. If two or three cards tie for high card, bets on each are paid. A “full monte” side bet pays when the three cards form a poker hand of a pair or better.
Casinos have seen marginal success on new card-based table games, other than blackjack and traditional poker. One of the more successful nontraditional table games was “Let It Ride,” which launched in the 1990s. According to the website Vegas Advantage, 17 casinos in Las Vegas still offer “Let it Ride.”
What I'm reading
🧑💼Goldstein to step down as Las Vegas Sands CEO and chairman; President and COO Patrick Dumont to take reins — Buck Wargo, CDC Gaming Reports
Goldstein joined the company in 1999 just before The Venetian opened on the Strip.
🔒 Whiskey Pete's in Primm granted waiver for temporary closure — Matthew Seeman, KSNV News 3
The waiver allows one of Primm's three casino-hotels to remain closed for up to three years.
❎ Store owners write Op-Ed opposing Wynn’s NYC casino bid — Chris Altruda, Casino Reports
The authors said Wynn Entertainment’s plan to open a casino in Hudson Yards would hurt small and local businesses.
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The Nevada Gaming Control Board issued a cease-and-desist order to KalshiEX LLC last week, giving the online betting company 10 days to “cease all unlawful activity.” Kalshi is registered with the federal Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and has several sports-based event contracts. However, the company is not licensed by Nevada regulators. “Every sports pool in Nevada must undergo an extensive investigation prior to licensing, must adhere to strict regulation once licensed, and must pay all applicable taxes and fees,” Board Chairman Kirk Hendrick wrote in a statement.
💳 Virgin Hotels Las Vegas launches new customer loyalty program
The operator of Virgin Hotels Las Vegas launched a new customer loyalty program this month. Cherry Rewards allows Virgin customers to earn and redeem points from all aspects of the off-Strip property, including the hotel, dining, the resort pool, retail and gaming. Earlier this month, JC Hospitality took control of the casino from Connecticut-based Mohegan Gaming, which had leased the space.