Gaming Control Board cuts won’t lead to job losses

The Gaming Control Board survived the special legislative session by losing about
$1 million each fiscal year from the general fund that will cost the regulatory agency seven full-time positions and some operating expenses for travel and training.

The good news, however, is the seven positions are now vacant so the budget cut will not lead to any current employees losing their jobs.

Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said he kept several open positions vacant in anticipation of a budget reduction.

"We didn't have to lay anyone off," Neilander said.

Also, the control board saw its appropriations from the state reduced by $4.2 million, which Neilander said will be made up by an increase in investigative fees charged to gaming applicants.

The control board's $32.5 million operating budget was the subject of much discussion early in the special session. One proposal called for gaming licensees to fund the control board through a fee increase.

However, gaming companies with representatives in Carson City could not reach consensus on the proposed fee increase and the plan was dropped.

Neilander didn't take a position one way or another on having the regulatory agency self-funded by the gaming industry.

"There were a lot of policy questions I answered during the times I testified," Neilander said. "There was obviously some interest as to how that might work. I believe the Legislature recognized that severe cuts at any level could have severely damaged our gaming regulatory system."

Neilander said gaming regulatory agencies in several states, New Jersey and Colorado, for example, are funded by the casino industry. In Nevada, the Public Utilities Commission is self-funded.

Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford, D-Las Vegas, said last week it was too early to determine if a bill might be introduced during the 2011 legislative session to change the current structure and make Nevada's gaming regulatory system a self-funded system.

In the meantime, budget holes will be filled by an increase in fees paid for regulatory investigations.

Neilander said new applicants would pay the majority of the fees. But any investigation that requires board or Nevada Gaming Commission approval will be subject to a fee increase of $40 an hour, taking the cost from $80 an hour to $120 an hour.

There will not be a change in the flat fee that nonrestricted applicants -- locations with 15 or fewer slot machines -- will have to pay for investigations.

It also appears the Gaming Control Board will be able avoid participating in the stalled effort for a four-day workweek for state agencies. An exemption covers public safety and law enforcement agencies. State gaming enforcement agents are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

"It makes sense to seek the exemption," Neilander said.

Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871.