Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
Silvio Petricciani - University of Nevada, Reno
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Development <strong>of</strong> the Gaming Industry<br />
151<br />
police card. And the other thing is that they’ve<br />
all been told that they should have them on<br />
their person when they come to work here. So<br />
consequently if they don’t have, then they’re<br />
remiss, not me, <strong>of</strong> course I can’t run a police<br />
card check every time somebody comes—you<br />
know—every shift. But you remind them<br />
once in a while. So now once in a while I pull<br />
my own little surprise raids, but other than<br />
that, I have no problems with the regulations<br />
that they have. I don’t think anybody else<br />
does either. I mean I don’t know <strong>of</strong> any other<br />
regulations that they could impose really—<br />
everything’s fine—I can live with it, other than<br />
I think the taxes should be adjusted.<br />
Now we come down to something else<br />
[laughing], and again I’m very radical on this.<br />
Observation on the industry associations,<br />
the <strong>Nevada</strong> Resort Association and Gaming<br />
Industry Association. Its purpose is good, and<br />
that is to effectively lobby for the good <strong>of</strong> the<br />
gaming industry, in the state <strong>of</strong> <strong>Nevada</strong> with<br />
the government <strong>of</strong> the state <strong>of</strong> <strong>Nevada</strong> and<br />
with the federal government. And yet I don’t<br />
belong to it. Its origin is exactly as I stated for<br />
the good <strong>of</strong> the gaming industry in the state<br />
<strong>of</strong> <strong>Nevada</strong>.<br />
When did it start?<br />
I don’t know exactly. I’d say—I don’t<br />
really know, I wouldn’t venture to say, five,<br />
six years ago, something like that—may have<br />
been earlier. I don’t know exactly when it<br />
did start, but—. As I say, the origin <strong>of</strong> it was<br />
the people in the city <strong>of</strong> <strong>Reno</strong> got together<br />
and decided that they should have an<br />
organization, and the purpose was to more or<br />
less to protect it against any unfair laws that<br />
might be put on by the federal government<br />
or the state government, and to be able to<br />
have representation in any laws that might<br />
be passed and so on and so forth.<br />
And as I say, the origin, the purpose was<br />
very good, and its effectiveness—I have mixed<br />
emotions about it. It has been effective in<br />
some instances and others it has not. I think<br />
it’s been more effective in the state than it has<br />
federal, although they were able to go back to<br />
Washington several times and argue things on<br />
Keno and so on and so forth. Of course, by the<br />
same token, other members <strong>of</strong> the industry<br />
didn’t allow just the gaming industry or the<br />
association itself to go back there. I mean<br />
each person went back on their own, from<br />
the different clubs and so on to Washington<br />
[D.C.]. And I wonder sometimes as to the<br />
effect <strong>of</strong> one or two people representing a<br />
group before say, the state legislature or the<br />
IRS or something else, as opposed to numbers<br />
<strong>of</strong> people showing up. I wonder which is<br />
psychologically more effective.<br />
However, it has been effective in some<br />
instances. And the reason that I didn’t join—<br />
when they started this association, a group<br />
<strong>of</strong> them got together and formulated the<br />
association; and after it was all put together<br />
and so on, then they came and asked me to<br />
join. And, being, you might say, an “elder” in<br />
the gaming industry in the state <strong>of</strong> <strong>Nevada</strong>,<br />
why I said, “Well, where was I when you<br />
formulated this association?”<br />
And they said, “Well, when we got<br />
together and did this thing, it was very hushhush<br />
and secret.”<br />
And I said, “Well, then evidently you<br />
didn’t trust me.” So I said, “If you didn’t trust<br />
me then, I don’t want you to trust me now, so<br />
I’m not going to join your organization.” And<br />
I haven’t to this day. I’m perfectly capable <strong>of</strong><br />
taking care <strong>of</strong> myself.<br />
So, I don’t know why it was so hush-hush<br />
and secret and so forth, but I guess the people<br />
that formulated it or started it got together<br />
and decided what they were going to do and<br />
how they were going to do it; and they come to