AGA Elects Isaacs to Board, Names Rosenberg Director-Elect, and Announces Dr. William Eadington Will Be Inducted into Gaming Hall of Fame

WASHINGTON – The American Gaming Association (AGA)’s board of directors recently announced the election of Gavin Isaacs, CEO of Shuffle Master Inc., to the AGA board.  Adam Rosenberg, global head of the gaming group for Goldman Sachs, also was named a director-elect.

Isaacs, who has more than 12 years of gaming industry experience, will serve a three-year term as a Class I member. He was named CEO of Shuffle Master Inc. in April 2011. Prior to joining Shuffle Master Inc., he served for five years as Bally Technologies Inc.’s executive vice president and COO and held several senior positions at Aristocrat Leisure Limited.  Isaacs also has previous AGA board experience, serving from June 2003 through June 2006 while president of the Americas for Aristocrat Technologies.

Rosenberg was named as a director-elect through the end of 2011, at which time he is expected to rotate onto the AGA board as an at-large member.  Rosenberg has focused on Goldman Sachs’ gaming investment banking business since 2004 and has led the global team since 2008.

“Gavin and Adam bring a wealth of diverse experience to our board,” said Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., president and CEO of the American Gaming Association (AGA). “Gavin knows the manufacturing sector of our business better than anyone and brings a truly global perspective to our deliberations.  Adam is one of the leading financial advisors focused on gaming, and we’re looking forward to his insights, particularly in this still challenging economic environment.”

The AGA board also announced it will induct University of Nevada, Reno professor Dr. William Eadington into the Gaming Hall of Fame at ceremonies in Las Vegas this November. Induction into the Gaming Hall of Fame is the highest honor accorded by the gaming industry. Each year, individuals who have distinguished themselves through significant contributions to the industry receive this honor.

Eadington’s induction includes a Special Achievement Award for Gaming Education. He is a professor of economics and director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). He is an internationally recognized authority on the legalization and regulation of commercial gaming and has written extensively on issues relating to the economic and social impacts of the industry.

“We owe Dr. Eadington much of the credit for our current understanding of the economic and social impacts of commercial gaming,” Fahrenkopf said. “His deep knowledge of the industry’s economics and his insights on the legalization and regulation of commercial gaming have been invaluable. Indeed, his work has not only served our industry; it also has served the countless communities that have benefited from commercial gaming.”

Eadington served as the organizer of the University of Nevada’s ongoing triennial International Conferences on Gambling and Risk Taking, which began in 1974, the next of which will occur in 2013.   He has edited or co-edited a number of books, including Integrated Resort Casinos:  Implications for Economic Growth and Social Impacts (2009); Optimal Play: Studies in the Mathematics of Games and Gambling, (2007); The Downside: Problem and Pathological Gambling, (2002); Finding the Edge: Mathematical Analysis of Casino Games, (2000); The Business of Gaming: Economic and Management Issues, (1999); and Gambling: Public Policies and the Social Sciences, (1997). Since 1991, he has been co-moderator of the annual Executive Development Program for Senior Level Casino Executives, which he also founded.

Eadington also has served as a consultant and advisor for governments and private sector organizations throughout the world on issues related to gaming laws, casino operations, regulation, legalization and public policy. He is a founding member of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism and a former associate editor of the Annals of Tourism Research and the Journal of Gambling Studies.  In 1990 he was awarded a Foundation Professorship at UNR and since 2004 has held the Philip G. Satre Chair of Gaming Studies there.  In 2008, Eadington was awarded an honorary doctorate honoris causa in Business Administration by the University of Macau. 

This year’s other Hall of Fame inductees include Sheldon G. Adelson, chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp.; world-renowned chef Charlie Palmer; and popular entertainers and Las Vegas mainstays the Blue Man Group. More than 70 people have been inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame since its inception in 1989.  The 2011 Gaming Hall of Fame Charity Dinner and Induction Ceremony will take place Tuesday, Nov. 1 at the Venetian Resort-Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas.

The AGA board of directors is led by Keith Smith, AGA chairman and president and CEO of Boyd Gaming Corporation, and Richard Haddrill, AGA vice chairman and president, CEO and director of Bally Technologies, Inc. Other members of the AGA board are Brian R. Gamache, president and CEO of WMS Gaming Inc.; Patti S. Hart, CEO of International Game Technology; Robert Heller, managing director and head of Americas Gaming and Leisure at UBS Investment Bank; Gordon R. Kanofsky, CEO and vice chairman of Ameristar Casinos, Inc.; Nick Khin, president and CEO of Aristocrat Technologies, Inc.; Michael Leven, president and COO of Las Vegas Sands Corp.; Gary Loveman, president, CEO and chairman of Caesars Entertainment Corporation; Virginia McDowell, president and CEO of Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc.; James J. Murren, chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International; Larry Ruvo, senior managing director of Southern Wine and Spirits of Nevada; Anthony Sanfilippo, president and CEO of Pinnacle Entertainment, Inc.; and Timothy J. Wilmott, president and COO of Penn National Gaming, Inc.

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The AGA represents the commercial casino-entertainment industry by addressing federal legislative and regulatory issues.The association also serves as a clearinghouse for information, develops educational and advocacy programs and provides leadership on industry-related issues of public concern. To follow the AGA on Facebook, visit www.facebook.com/americangaming; for Twitter, go to www.twitter.com/AGAupdate.