The leadership of the American Gaming Association will turn over in July for only the second time in its history. Geoff Freeman, who succeeded longtime President and CEO Frank Fahrenkopf in 2013, announced his departure last week. Freeman’s tenure will end on a high note, as the AGA led the campaign to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which was achieved on May 14 when the Supreme Court ruled against PASPA.
Freeman will leave the AGA in August to lead the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), a Washington D.C.-based organization that represents food, beverage and consumer product companies.
Tim Wilmott, the chairman of the AGA, said the executive committee will launch a CEO search process to “solicit a wide variety of opinions as to the type of leader that is the best fit for the AGA of today. The formation of this committee does not preclude the possibility of an internal candidate.”
Wilmott said Freeman achieved much during his time at the AGA and said that the job with the GMA is testimony to his effectively.
“I have enjoyed working with Geoff over the last five years and am grateful for his contributions to gaming’s long-term growth and prosperity,” Wilmott said in a letter to AGA membership.
Freeman’s style was to create consensus, something that was a signature of the sports betting campaign where he joined diverse organizations from law enforcement, academia, PACs and others to form powerful coalitions. Some believe that even if the Supreme Court had not overturned PASPA the AGA had driven an agenda that would have resulted in Congressional action.
But it wasn’t only the issues that set Freeman apart, it was a restructure of the entire organization. Previously there was no “membership department” and board spots were limited to only the largest commercial casino companies and suppliers. But Freeman opened up a process to attract new members to the organization. He most notably opened up membership to tribal enterprises, and today many of the larger tribal gaming companies are members of the AGA.
Just after taking over as president of the AGA, Freeman witnessed a tongue-lashing at G2E, the AGA’s trade show and conference, by the then leader of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), Jennifer Shasky Calvery. She charged that the casino industry wasn’t doing enough to identify money laundering and challenged the AGA to clean it up. Freeman established a task force, and a few years later, Calvery congratulated the industry for being so proactive. The AGA later collaborated with FinCEN during the sports betting debate to demonstrate how well-regulated sports betting operations could actually prevent money laundering and related crimes.
When the Internal Revenue Service proposed lowering the threshold for the reporting of winning bets from $1,200 to $600, the AGA sprung into action, creating a grassroots campaign that caused the IRS to drop the proposal after more than 14,000 written comments against the change were received.
Prior to joining the AGA, Freeman spent seven years at the chief operating officer at the U.S. Travel Association, where he operated the organizations large trade show and led the development of “Brand USA,” a public-private partnership to promote tourism in the U.S.
