Former Galaxy Gaming boss Robert Saucier could be banned from the industry in Nevada if the state Gaming Commission endorses a Gaming Control Board recommendation to deny him a license.
The commission is scheduled to vote on the recommendation this week, according to a report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Galaxy, which develops and markets an array of side bets for traditional table games operated by major casinos nationwide, launched operations in Nevada in 2017, but its approval for licensing came after difficult licensing hearings in California, Oregon and Washington, all of which came away with doubts about Saucier’s suitability.
In California, an administrative law judge back in 2013 labeled Saucier’s application to be licensed to provide games to the state’s Indian casinos “a train wreck.”
The company ultimately was approved in Nevada on the condition that Saucier resign as chairman, president and CEO. He turned the chief executive and president duties over to Todd Cravens, who’d recently joined the company as vice president of business development. Mark Lipparelli, a well-regarded industry executive who once chaired the Control Board and had served as a state senator, was named chairman.
Saucier retained his seat on the five-member board of directors and was allowed to hold shares in the company, though not a controlling interest. But he ran afoul of the Control Board after management complained that he was attempting to alter the composition of the board.
The board’s recommendation of denial came on an application by Saucier to withdraw his licensing, which would remove him from regulatory scrutiny. Instead, the board voted to find him unsuitable for licensing, a decision that effectively amounts to a ban.
Saucier denied any wrongdoing in a two-hour hearing before the board earlier this month.
“I feel like I’m being labeled as somebody who doesn’t respect gaming regulators, and I would tell you in the 20-plus years that I ran Galaxy Gaming, in over 100 jurisdictions, there wasn’t one single violation, wasn’t one single fine or sanction against the company,” he said. “I take gaming regulatory issues very seriously, and this was no different. I took the conditions imposed by this commission seriously, and I believe that even as I stand here today, there was no violation as it related to the proxy.
The board was not convinced. “I think that your argument is a bit novel, but on the whole, unavailing,” member Terry Johnson said.
If the commission approves the denial, Saucier will be the first person to join the state’s unsuitability list since November of 2016, when Stephan Galdau and SMG Hospitality were added.
