Opponents of gambling into the U.S. have grown to be critical of just how that some state that is new are employing consultants whom they say have hidden agendas and are often employed by pro-gambling lobbies.

Too Close for Convenience

Cash-strapped states are looking at industry consultants to advise them about whether to legalize gambling so as to bolster their coffers. These businesses will often draft legislation, set up commissions while making decisions about which operators might be suitable licensees.

But numerous of these specialists’ industry connections are only a little too close to the casino business for the comfort of the anti-gambling brigade, which has announced that private organizations that are hired to vet operators should not have a ‘cozy relationship’ with the gambling enterprises they are meant to be scrutinizing, nor as long as they be acting as gambling industry regulators.

This week, the issue was brought to light in the case of law firm that is consulting & Froelich (which recently became element of Taft) hired by Massachusetts to assist the state decide who should build its first casino in Springfield. Shefsky & Froelich recommended MGM Resorts Overseas, for which it was already players showgirls surfers paradise working as a lobbyist that is registered Illinois.

It’s believed that at the very least 16 states across the U.S. depend on private companies as specialists. So, could it be that these states, searching for a fast fix, and desperate to get their new casinos ready to go as fast as possible, are moving towards an application of semi-privatization of gambling? It’s not the way things are done in states in which gambling is more established, such as Nevada, New Jersey and Delaware, where regulation is famously stringent.

That being said, Massachusetts regulators nevertheless relatively new to the land casino game have actually been, if anything, roundly criticized by industry professionals as being way too stringent and nitpicky, as opposed to the opposite; taking away some credence from anti-gaming critics’ arguments.

Who’s Watching Whom?

Illinois Gaming Board spokesman Gene O’Shea recently measured into the debate, saying: ‘How do you vet your professionals? If a lot of these professionals, in the past or another, have worked for the folks that you’re in charge of regulating, at some time, you are going to have issues utilizing the purity of the investigation.’

Meanwhile, spokesman for the Florida organization that is non-profit Casinos, John Sowinski, attacked the practice in the state of Florida, which will be currently wanting to expand its casino offerings beyond tribal gaming and race, saying: ‘The gambling industry is the one industry that appears to break free with this particular conflict of great interest carte blanche.’

Managing director of Spectrum Gaming Michael Pollock whom represents one of the biggest gambling consultant firms in the U.S., which recently completed research for Florida negated the claims, but, saying, ‘You can’t be in this business if you are prepared to entertain disputes of interest or even a look of a conflict.

‘We make it clear from the outset you what you want to hear, we’re going to tell you what you need to know that we are not necessarily going to tell. And we will maybe not entertain an engagement when a customer seeks an outcome that is particular’ Pollock added.

MGM CEO Jim Murren says the allegations are considering an outsider’s misconception of the gambling industry, which he states is close-knit:

‘This isn’t a huge industry, and gaming law is highly specialized,’ he said. ‘ There are only maybe four or five firms that are experts in gaming law, and they are known by us all, and now we’ve probably utilized them.’

It seems that the casino consulting business is somewhat incestuous, but whether that is merely the character of the industry or something more sinister, is up for debate dependent on your views. What exactly is clear, but, is it’s big business. Spectrum Gaming started life in a brand new Jersey cellar back in 1996 and has since been called one of many fastest-growing personal businesses in the U.S. Its website declares that: ‘Governments, video gaming operators, designers and investors in five continents have retained Spectrum, so we stay ready to serve clients through our offices in Atlantic City, Bangkok, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Macau, Manila and Tokyo.’