NV regulation’s just changed

Anyone else catch this Notice to Licensees from the Nevada Gaming Control Board last week?

DATE: February 8, 2011
TO: All Gaming Licensees and Other Interested Persons
FROM: Mark A. Lipparelli, Chairman
SUBJECT: Merging of the Board’s Investigations and Corporate Securities Divisions

Effective Monday, February 14, 2011, the Investigations and Corporate Securities Divisions of the State Gaming Control Board will be merged. The combined division will operate as the Investigations Division. As a result of this change, the Corporate Securities staff will become a Section within the Investigations Division.
Mike LaBadie, formerly Chief of the Corporate Securities Division, will serve as Chief of the newly combined Division. Mike started his career in the Investigations Division and has been at the Board for almost 24 years. He has served in increasing levels of responsibility including his appointment to Chief of Corporate Securities in May 2003. Marc Warren will be joining the Investigations Division as a Deputy Chief for the Corporate Securities Section. Marc is a licensed attorney and has been serving the Board in the position of Senior Research Specialist. He previously worked in the Corporate Securities Division.

As public companies emerged in our industry in the late 1980s our agency was under great pressure to build financial expertise as quickly as possible. Attracting and developing a team ultimately leading to the formation of Corporate Securities as a new Division to support those changes made sense. Over time, as our expertise has matured (and to the credit of the agency), it is readily apparent that many of the functions of each of these divisions are common and we are now in a position to allow our managers to use our resources/expertise in a more flexible and efficient manner.
No other changes are anticipated and all contact information relating to your interaction with these groups within the Board remains unchanged.

Here’s the letter (pdf)

Is this a ground-breaking change? No, but I think it speaks to how the GCB is dealing with budget cuts (getting more out of less), and how it is willing to be flexible in its evolution.

This is the sort of thing that might be worthy of a more in-depth follow-up, which I might do…provided no one beats me to it. In my opinion, the elimination of one of the seven divisions of the agency tasked with policing Nevada’s biggest industry merits at least a mention in the local dailies.