Outgoing chairman puts state on track for online gaming

Mark Lipparelli leaves his job with a reputation as the most technologically sophisticated Gaming Control Board chairman Nevada has ever had.

His legacy? He was at the forefront in the process of writing regulations to permit legal online poker in Nevada, the first step of which may lead to broader online gaming, depending on federal action.

While not a political animal, the techie let the politicians battle in Congress over federal laws involving online gaming nationally and internationally.

For those of us who aren’t poker players (at least not good ones) online poker is not a burning issue.

Yet legalized online gaming should help Nevada’s economy, create jobs, make money for companies doing business here and swell the state’s tax coffers.

Lipparelli’s efforts during the past four years on the control board, nearly two years as chairman, have been widely praised within the gaming industry. The only criticism I heard was about some initial flip-flopping on the best way to regulate online poker. Hey, nobody’s perfect.

He steps down Sept. 28 for the right reason – to give his successor time to prepare for the 2013 Legislature, where some fine-tuning is required.

There’s a standing joke that Lipparelli was one of the few decent appointments made by former Gov. Jim Gibbons, who named him to the board in January 2009. The two met when Gibbons was touring Bally’s Technologies Inc. Gibbons asked about gaming policy and was impressed by Lipparelli’s answer.

In December 2010, Gibbons named him chairman, acting on the wishes of then Gov.-elect Brian Sandoval.

Lipparelli planned to serve one term, then return to the private sector. A good part of that was a financial decision. Married with two children, one in college, the $134,554 state salary was more than a 50 percent cut from what he was earning as a gaming consultant.

While he is headed back to the private sector, Lipparelli will have to complete a year’s cooling-off period before he can work for any Nevada gaming licensee.

From what I observed, Lipparelli was a talented and thoughtful gaming regulator. He wasn’t a grandstander or a blowhard.

Lipparelli, 47, started his gaming career in 1988 as a research and securities analyst for the control board. In 1993, he moved into the industry itself, focusing on technology.

I once thought he had stepped into doo-doo when a Reuters article quoted Lipparelli from a hearing involving online poker.

"I don’t think as we look at companies that we can have perfection as the standard, because I think that would be a disservice to the state in attracting business here," he said.

It sounded as if he was suggesting standards for licensing online gaming applicants would be less stringent than those with bricks and mortar operations.

Instead of becoming the focus of controversy, Lipparelli was supported by Gaming Commission Chairman Pete Bernhard, who noted that the pioneers of Las Vegas gaming didn’t have spotless records.

Lipparrelli has been vocal in warning that chaos will result if every state goes its own way regulating online gaming.

In the September issue of Nevada Gaming Lawyer, Lipparelli wrote, "Absent a federal framework, the U.S. will have missed a golden opportunity, hobbled uniformity, and provided further upside to illegal operators at the expense of licensed operators."

Some of this tech stuff seems dry and boring. And expanding Nevada’s gaming footprint to the Internet has societal downsides such as increasing compulsive gambling.

Yet in the long run, online gaming is Nevada’s next major step forward, and after four years on the job to prepare for the move, the techie leaves with his reputation intact. Not everyone does.

Jane Ann Morrison’s column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Email her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call her at 702-383-0275. She also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/Morrison.