Author: University of Nevada, Reno. Oral History Program

Publisher:

Published: 2006-04-01

Total Pages: 86

ISBN-13: 9781564753915

No attorney has played a greater role in the rise of the casino industry and how it is regulated than has Robert D. Faiss. In this oral memoir, Faiss gives an eloquent, eyewitness account of crucial events and moments in the history of gaming regulation and gaming law in Nevada. Two years after Democrat Grant Sawyer took office as governor in 1959, Bob Faiss became assistant executive secretary of the Nevada Gaming Commission, where he created the first state publication on the history, economics, and control of the gaming industry. In 1963, Sawyer brought Faiss to the governors office as executive assistant, with duties that included acting both as press secretary and chief speechwriteran appointment that began a relationship that shaped Faisss life. In a quest for respectability and economic development, Sawyer changed how the gaming industry was regulated. Faiss played a role in these changes, including the creation of the Nevada Gaming Commission and the List of Excluded Persons. He spent eight years working for the Nevada state government, and he later worked at the federal level, including service as White House staff assistant during President Johnsons last year in office. When Faiss completed his law degree from American University in Washington, D.C., he returned to Las Vegas as an attorney for Nevadas largest law firm, Lionel Sawyer & Collins. In his three decades as an administrative attorney, Bob Faiss represents gaming clients and deals with regulatory boardsmostly related to gaming, but also in other realms of business. More than anyone else in his profession, Faiss has made gaming law important and respected. He is responsible for many important parts of the Nevada Revised Statutes and the regulations that the Nevada Gaming Commission and the Nevada Gaming Control Board use. He also was a key attorney in the growth of several major Nevada gaming corporations. For three decades, Faiss has represented the gaming industry at the state legislature. From 1998 to 2003, he served on the U.S. Treasury Departments Bank Secrecy Act Advisory Board as the representative of the U.S. casino industry, and he was a charter trustee and president of the International Association of Gaming Attorneys. The state of Nevada and its most important industry are far better for Bob Faisss hard work and loyalty.