Saturday, December 07, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Guinn reappoints two Gaming Control Board members

Dennis Neilander Attorney currently is chairman of control board Bobby Siller Spent 25 years with FBI before 1998 appointment

Dennis Neilander and Bobby Siller have been reappointed by Gov. Kenny Guinn to the powerful state Gaming Control Board that polices Nevada's multibillion-dollar casino industry.

Guinn, asked Friday at a Western Governors' Conference about Neilander, chairman of the control board, and Siller, a board member, said he had signed the paperwork but hadn't made a formal announcement about their four-year reappointments. Their current terms expire Dec. 31.

Both board members developed reputations as tough but fair regulators during their initial terms on the Gaming Control Board, a 430-employee agency that serves as the investigative and enforcement arm for the Nevada Gaming Commission.

Neilander, 40, has been a board member since 1998, and had served as the board's chief of corporate securities from 1995 until his 1998 appointment to a one-year term by then-Gov. Bob Miller. Guinn named him to his first four-year term in January 1999.

Before joining the board, Neilander, an attorney, was an analyst for the Legislative Counsel Bureau and handled gambling, criminal and other legal matters for the Legislature's judiciary committees.

Siller, 57, was named in December 1998 by Guinn to his first four-year term. Siller took the state post after 25 years with the FBI, including more than three years as special agent in charge of the Las Vegas FBI office.

During Siller's stint with the FBI in Las Vegas, the agency cracked down on organized crime, telemarketing fraud and violent crime. Before coming to Las Vegas, Siller also served as an administrator at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va.

The Gaming Control Board, with a budget of more than $33 million a year, has divisions of audit, tax and license, investigations, corporate securities, enforcement, electronic services and administration.