Gaming analysts break away to form independent firm

By Liz Benston

Friday, April 17, 2009 | 9:28 a.m.

Gaming analysts Bill Lerner, Rich Moriarty and Grant Govertsen have left Deutsche Bank to form Union Gaming Group, an independent gaming industry research firm based in Las Vegas.

Union Gaming will offer market research for institutional investors, gaming feasibility studies for governments and companies, and related services.

Lerner says his departure from Deutsche Bank, one of the top lenders to the gaming industry, comes in response to a demand for the kind of independent research that isn't coming out of big Wall Street banks these days.

Wall Street firms are taking a very negative and narrow view of the casino industry that doesn't reflect the industry's long-term potential, Lerner said.

"Lots of countries and governments are looking to gaming" to raise tax dollars, he said.

Lerner said being an independent analyst not affiliated with a large bank will give him more time to pursue in-depth research and more freedom to express his views about companies and the industry.

Investment banks often have policies that prevent analysts from speaking freely about companies that are banking clients.

"From a compliance perspective, things have swung too far to one side," Lerner said. "You can't publish certain things that would be helpful" to research clients.

Gaming will remain a key sector for Deutsche Bank, he said.

Lerner has 13 years of experience on Wall Street, most recently serving as a senior gaming and lodging analyst for Deutsche Bank. Moriarty has 12 years of Wall Street experience, serving as director of Deutsche Bank's Institutional Client Group. Govertsen has five years of experience as a Wall Street gaming analyst and previously served as an economic consultant.