At a public hearing on April 5 in Carson City, Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) member George Assad caused some eyebrows to raise when he made some not-so-subtle comments about the business decisions of MGM Resorts International, which he deemed as less than stellar.
Representatives from the company were there to petition the board for another waiver granting an extension of its iGaming license, which it first obtained in 2012 but has yet to deploy. Assad, a former Las Vegas judge, appeared to be somewhat annoyed by the fact that the company has yet to establish iGaming operations.
Per the Nevada Independent, Assad commented that he used to look forward to “the finality of cases” when he was still a judge, and questioned why “upper management or Mr. Hornbuckle (can’t) just make a decision after 11 years to either move forward with interactive gaming or not.”
As of now, only online poker is legal in Nevada, and Caesars’ World Series of Poker site is the only active operation. The board eventually voted in favor of the extension.
His critique of the company, however, did not stop there—Assad also went on to criticize the performance of MGM Springfield in Massachusetts, saying that the property “(isn’t) doing so well,” per the Independent. Ironically, the casino posted its best year ever last year in terms of gaming revenue.
Additionally, Assad lamented the decline of MGM’s stock price, which he previously owned but sold before accepting his position at the NGCB.
“The stock price from when (former CEO Jim Murren) took over dropped from, like, big time,” Assad said, as reported by the Independent. “Lanni had it up from $7 all the way to $96.40 and then Mr. Murren comes in, the stock price drops into the low teens.” He then added that he still makes note of the stock even today, which currently trades in the mid-$40s.
In all, Assad concluded to MGM attorney Chandler Pohl that he wants to see the company “become one of the leaders in the industry again,” to which Pohl later asserted that it “continues to review its opportunities to maximize shareholder profits.”
MGM, Assad and the office of Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo, who appointed Assad to the board just four months ago, did not respond to requests for comment on the matter from the Independent.
After the unusual meeting, several other gaming attorneys told the Independent anonymously that such comments from regulators are extremely rare.
Tony Cabot, a former gaming attorney who is now a fellow at the Boyd School of Law at UNLV, did go on the record, telling the Independent that “it really isn’t a regulatory concern or shouldn’t be a regulatory concern as to the honest business decisions made by a company.”
“Regulators shouldn’t be second-guessing the business decisions of a company under their control unless it impacts their ability to effectively go forward by going broke,” Cabot told the Independent.
