New Nevada Gaming Control Board chairman appointed
It didn’t take long for Gov. Steve Sisolak to find his replacement to chair the Nevada Gaming Control Board.
Four days after former Chairwoman Sandra Morgan’s last day on the job, Sisolak late Tuesday appointed attorney J. Brin Gibson to head the state’s top gaming regulatory body and serve as its executive director.
Gibson joins the board Nov. 18, the day before the Nevada Gaming Commission is scheduled to meet and well before the Control Board’s December meeting.
“Brin’s extensive background and expertise in highly regulated industries, including his experience as chief of the Gaming Division, makes him a perfect fit for this position,” Sisolak said in a statement.
Gibson also was Sisolak’s general counsel from January 2019 to January 2020.
Sisolak promised to move on the appointment quickly and delivered. Some prior appointments have taken weeks or months.
The Gibson appointment breaks a string of women serving as chair of the board.
Morgan stepped down as chairwoman and executive director of the board on Oct. 29 and a day later, it was announced she’d join the board of directors of Jacksonville, Florida-based Fidelity National Financial, Inc.
The company’s top executive, Chairman William P. Foley II, is the principal owner of the Vegas Golden Knights, the city’s entry in the National Hockey League.
Morgan became the 11th director for Fidelity, considered the largest title insurance underwriting company in the country.
Sisolak appointed Morgan chairwoman in January 2019, replacing Becky Harris whose term of office ended later that month. Harris, a former Republican state senator, was the first woman to chair the Control Board. She had been appointed by former Gov. Brian Sandoval, a Republican.
Harris currently is a distinguished fellow in gaming and leadership at UNLV’s International Gaming Institute.
Gibson also has been in a workplace whirlwind.
Gibson is a shareholder with Las Vegas-based Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, one of the nation’s leading gaming industry law practices. At the firm, Gibson has advised executive level clients on gaming, intellectual property, privacy, water and government-relations issues.
With the state, Gibson was chief legal counselor regarding ethics, transactional and legislative matters as well as protection of state interests in the gaming and cannabis industries. He worked as head of the gaming division in the Nevada Attorney General’s Office.
He also once served on the Colorado River Commission of Nevada.
A former Control Board chairman commended the selection.
“I think Brin Gibson is an excellent choice, and I have a very high opinion of him; I commend the governor,” said attorney A.G. Burnett, a partner with Reno-based McDonald Carano who chaired the Control Board from 2012 to 2017. “Brin will serve the state with high integrity and commitment.”
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Mike Shoro contributed to this report.
