Thursday, June 19, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Illinois regulator resigns to take job at Harrah's

CHICAGO -- The head of the Illinois Gaming Board has resigned to accept a job as an executive with Harrah's Entertainment., the regulatory board announced Wednesday.

Philip Parenti, who took over as administrator in November 2001, said his new job as a vice president at the gambling company doesn't conflict with the board's code of conduct. The code prohibits members or employees from working for or representing a riverboat licensee or applicant within a year of leaving the board.

"Harrah's has 25 properties throughout the country. I won't be involved with Illinois properties during the confines of the one-year period," Parenti said.

Harrah's owns riverboat casinos in Metropolis and Joliet.

"(Parenti) will not be involved in Harrah's efforts to expand or acquire additional riverboat licenses in Illinois should they become available," board Chairman Elzie Higginbottom said.

Parenti was key in brokering a deal for Emerald Casino to give up its state license in return for investors' original stakes in a planned Rosemont casino. The board derailed that casino in January 2001 by voting to revoke Emerald's license, claiming that top casino officials lied to the board and that some investors had mob ties.

New board members went along with the deal to avoid a possibly lengthy revocation process. A planned sale of the license has been held up by bankruptcy proceedings involving Emerald.

Parenti said he wanted to leave his $160,000-a-year job partly because he has to pay tuition for two daughters in college.

"I'm going back to the private sector to try to earn a living for my four daughters," Parenti said. "Like their father ... they picked Catholic private universities that cost a lot of money, which was definitely a factor in my decision."

Parenti's resignation follows a pattern where casino companies hire former regulators, said the Rev. Tom Grey, the Rockford-based executive director of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion.

"If the public could have any confidence in the board after what happened with the Emerald Casino fiasco, this is the straw that broke the camel's back," Grey said.

The board will select Parenti's replacement, with counsel from Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The administrator oversees a staff of about 100 in Springfield and Chicago and runs daily operations of the gaming board, which licenses, oversees and collects taxes on the state's riverboat casinos.