Nevada Gaming Control Board’s new chair braces for challenges

It seems the use of Sandra Douglass Morgan’s array of experience — in gaming and in sports — couldn’t have come at a better time for state gaming regulation.

Morgan, 41, was appointed to chair the state Gaming Control Board in January by Gov. Steve Sisolak and is the first African-American woman to hold the position.

She expects the biggest challenges for the gaming industry in the months ahead to be navigating the Supreme Court’s decision enabling the nationwide expansion of sports wagering and the U.S. Justice Department’s January reinterpretation of the federal Wire Act — which threatens the legality of any form of online gambling.

Eight states have legalized sports betting, with 11 more and the District of Columbia expected to follow suit by 2020. All but four U.S. states are expected to have some form of legal sports betting after 2023, according to research by Eilers & Krejcik.

In an interview in her second-floor Sawyer Building office, Morgan said she’s an advocate for strategic regulatory planning and analysis and not quick regulatory fixes.

“If it’s happening too quickly, you could have the unintended consequences of bad regulation that could lead to people circumventing or violating those regulations, which then would be a black eye on the gaming industry,” Morgan said.

States can decide how to treat gambling the way that each state wants, she said. For Nevada, she would like to focus on making sure bad actors won’t be able to infiltrate the industry.

“That’s what makes the entire industry look bad,” she said. “For example, one of our proposed bills will allow the district attorney or the attorney general to wiretap any type of illegal gaming activity. We have great relationships with our federal partners and our other local law enforcement, but having that additional tool” would give law enforcement new investigative abilities.

Heading the state’s three-member Control Board, part of Nevada’s two-tiered regulatory model, Morgan knew of the board’s role as full-time a regulator that makes recommendations to the part-time citizen commission on investigation, enforcement, licensing and taxing of state gaming establishments.

“It was something for me just being a Nevadan and growing up here that I just knew about the importance of the position and the board to the state and to the industry,” said Morgan, a longtime North Las Vegas resident.

Surprise call

Still, she was surprised when she got the call from Sisolak offering the position after serving on the Nevada Gaming Commission for just eight months.

“I thought about, and I talked to my family about it, but I knew as soon as I got the call it was something I couldn’t turn down because of the importance to the state,” she said. “It really wasn’t on my radar, and I was delighted when I was appointed to the commission in early 2018. Being an attorney, I definitely saw what was done on the back end when I was on the commission, and now with the board, I’m seeing how it is done on the front end.”

Commission Chairman Tony Alamo, who has known Morgan for more than a year, said the state is fortunate to have her as board chairwoman.

“I first met her when she was named to the Athletic Commission, and then I got to know her more and work with her one on one on the Gaming Commission,” Alamo said. “When the opportunity opened itself up to take the chair of the board, this state is very fortunate that she said yes at a sacrifice because she left a very successful profession to take an enormous pay cut to take this role. She personally sacrificed, and we’re very lucky that she did that.”

Morgan’s shift from the commission to the board resulted in a pair of vacancies. Sisolak late last month appointed Rosa Solis-Rainey as her successor on the five-member commission. There is still a vacancy there because Commissioner Philip Pro in April declined reappointment.

Her path

Morgan’s job experience leading up to her board appointment should prepare her for some of the industry challenges that lie ahead.

As she served on the part-time commission, she was director of external affairs for AT&T Services Inc. and was responsible for managing AT&T’s government and community affairs in Nevada. That provided background for Nevada’s deep dive into esports and the phenomenal worldwide participation in online competition favored by younger players the gaming industry is trying to attract to casinos.

On the administrative side, Morgan spent three of her eight years with North Las Vegas as city attorney. She was Nevada’s first African-American city attorney.

She understands the north-south political split in the state, having received her bachelor’s degree at the University of Nevada, Reno, and her juris doctorate from UNLV’s Boyd Law School.

She worked for MGM Mirage — now MGM Resorts International — for three years as a litigator, mostly on risk-management cases. The gaming industry was close by in her growing-up years: Her mother was a keno runner and made change at the iconic Landmark, at the Imperial Palace on the Strip and at what was the newly opened Santa Fe — one of the last gaming outposts on the edge of town in the northwest at the time.

Morgan said she learned a strong work ethic and responsibility from her father, who retired from the Air Force at Nellis Air Force Base and whom Morgan calls her life’s role model.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.

This story has been updated with the correct the age of Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairwoman Sandra Morgan.