(Michael Chamberlain/Nevada Business Coalition) – The Nevada Business Coalition submitted the following letter to the Nevada Gaming Commission and Gaming Control Board in advance of the Gaming Commission’s meeting today, August 25. Many other businesses and individuals added their names to the letter that was sent.
Dear Commissioners,
Innovation and ingenuity – two concepts that have helped make America great. In this spirit, Craig Estey introduced a new model to Nevada a decade-and-a-half ago. As he was obtaining the required approvals, regulators expressed skepticism, not of its legality, but of its prospects for success.
Despite the doubters and through the worst recession in memory, Dotty’s has been successful. While other gaming companies are shedding jobs, Dotty’s is hiring. Where other taverns are closing, Dotty’s is opening new outlets in the shuttered locations.
Now, unable to produce their own model to compete with Dotty’s and threatened by the company’s success, wealthy and powerful interests are trying another tactic – using their political muscle to crush the competition, regulating Dotty’s and similar companies out of business.
Corporate giants of the gaming industry are urging the Commission to amend regulations to force Dotty’s and similar businesses to completely alter their business models. Beyond that, they would like the Commission to adopt these changes retroactively and require potentially cost-prohibitive modifications to existing locations.
The retroactive nature of the proposed changes are unprecedented and dubious. Never before has this Commission required licensees to go back to existing locations and make changes to comply with new regulations.
What is the reason for this? The representatives of the big gaming interests made this clear in the July meeting. They are threatened by the competition represented by the Dotty’s model.
Dotty’s has complied with every law and regulation. Just a few short months ago this Commission approved new outlets using the same model that today is under attack. Dotty’s only transgression has been to run afoul of powerful interests by offering a superior business model and better customer satisfaction than some of its larger competitors.
Make no mistake; this is not about Dotty’s. This is about every small business that hopes to some day compete with a large, politically-connected corporation. In this economic climate where Nevada leads the nation in unemployment, do we really want to send the message to small businesses thinking of setting up shop in the Silver State that if they grow and become a perceived threat to large companies the government will step in and shut them down?
Business success should be dependent upon planning and hard work and customer satisfaction, not political connections. We, the undersigned members of the Nevada Business Coalition, urge the Nevada Gaming Commission to support the “little guy” and reject the proposed regulatory changes.
Sincerely yours,
Michael Chamberlain
Nevada Business Coalition
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