Can regulators really understand the nuances of multi-billion-dollar transactions when even the most educated financial whiz has trouble? They missed the boat—along with a $150 payment to Jeffery Epstein—in...
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
Awards programs in gaming are usually harmless fun where the organizers get to stroke their sponsors, but when one awards program recently regaled the 52 judges it has lined...
California Screaming
Sports betting in California is a hot potato with several interested parties attempting to legalize it. The 107 tribes of the state want to control it as they control...
Black is Black
Richard Schuetz believes the black market is the gift that keeps on giving. Why? Because no matter how you slice it, there is little hope of dismantling illegal offshore...
Crime and the Financing of Casinos
When the infamous Jeffery Epstein (l.) can pay a principal of a company that controls major gaming corporations millions of dollars without the knowledge of the gold-standard regulators, you...
Political Malpractice and the Nevada Regulatory Experience
The mix of politics and regulatory bodies is inevitable, but when politics overtakes regulation, things can get messy. Former regulator Richard Schuetz believes that’s just what happened in Nevada...
Wanted: U.S. Gaming Regulators—No Experience Necessary
It’s no secret that regulatory appointments are usually political paybacks for loyalty and favors made. Knowledge and experience with the regulated industry definitely is not important. What could go...
California Dreamin’
Betting on college sports in California has always been a contentious issue. In a state where colleges like USC and UCLA consistently field excellent teams, other colleges like Stanford...
Just Richard
Richard Schuetz (l.) reflects on the many different roles he’s played in his life. The gaming veteran has worked on every side of the industry to become an expert...
Learning to Listen
Men are poor listeners, alleges gaming observer Richard Schuetz. He urges them to take the time, sit back and actually listen to the things that mean most to women....
The Judge Who Does Not Judge
Sometimes a judgement can be a good thing, particularly when you are afflicted with a gambling problem. Richard Schuetz relates the experience of attending the Nevada gambling court, presided...
What Wynn Did
Mansplaining the benefits of Wynn Resorts’ new program offering virtual-learning centers for kids who can’t go to school. This doesn’t just benefit the kids—it’s a boon to parents, especially...
Regulatory Capture: Don’t Bite the Hand that Feeds You
The first tenet of regulation is to perform your duties in the “public interest.” But what happens when that public interest intersects with a more private concern like an...
A Failure of Regulation: Women’s Progress Stymied
A century after women won the right to vote in the U.S., the advancement of women in the gaming industry is still not where it should be according to...
Fear Itself
Why is it that women in the gaming industry are always at the wrong end of the data set? Gaming observer Richard Schuetz explains why the feedback he gets...
Stanley Ho and Community
The death of Stanley Ho marked the end of an era for sure. His “monopoly” of gaming in Macau was more than just business. Richard Schuetz explains how Ho...
The Big Problem With A Small Number: 0.000041%
A proposed reduction in money dedicated to problem gambling in Nevada leaves it with such a small percentage compared to gross gaming revenues that it helps to see it...
I’m Just a Casino Guy
Casinos today depend on technology to such an extent that the human touch and common sense are often overlooked. The recent mistake made by Bellagio and BetMGM over Korean...
Be a Rosa
The women of gaming can have no better role model than the famous Rosa Parks, the mother of the civil rights movement. The slow pace of change in the...
The Back of the House
Is this phrase that’s so ubiquitous in the casino industry still appropriate? Does it smack of the “systematic” issues that people are complaining about today? Gaming observer Richard Schuetz...