State gaming board needs more personnel to cope with expected growth

CARSON CITY - Nevada needs 25 more people to effectively monitor the state's growing gambling industry but Gov. Kenny Guinn approved only four, top regulators have told lawmakers.

Over the last eight years the number of slot devices increased by 37 percent, the number of large casinos increased by 23 percent and the amount of money to state coffers grew by 47 percent, Gaming Control Board Chairman Steve DuCharme said Monday.

"Staffing levels increased by 9 percent - 3 percent in audit and 6 percent in enforcement. We are barely keeping up with the growth," DuCharme told members of the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees, adding that several new mega-resorts are scheduled to open within the next 18 months.

Assemblyman John Marvel, R-Battle Mountain, asked how many casinos are going to close during that same period.

"A couple of properties are flirting bankruptcy, but we hope we can save them," GCB member Dennis Neilander said.

The board is also having trouble attracting and retaining qualified staff because salary levels are so low, according to GCB Administrative Division Chief Donna Varin.

"How am I to recruit fairly and equally with other agencies in the state?" she said.

Finance Chairman Bill Raggio, R-Reno, reminded Varin that the 1997 Legislature granted the board an additional cost of living increase to help retain skilled employees.

"There is still a huge disparity," Varin responded, adding that although the agency has reduced overall turnover rates, some divisions are losing up to 19 percent of their employees because of comparatively low salaries.

"Fifty percent of the unclassified staff are paid 25 percent less than in the Nevada marketplace," Varin said.

The board is also working without an electronic services division chief.

Sen. Bill O'Donnell, R-Las Vegas, asked if the salary was to blame for the inability to fill the vacancy.

"In the private sector, entry level employees get twice what we pay our senior managers," DuCharme told the senator.

DuCharme said he recognizes the estimated $140 million budget shortfall facing the state and the burden it puts on lawmakers.

"We just want to bring this to your attention in the event that you have some money at the end of the session," he said.

"Take a number," Raggio quipped.

Pete Ernaut, Guinn's chief of staff, said salary problems are not unique to the Gaming Control Board.

"We have a 30 percent turnover in prison guards and information technology has trouble retaining people," he said. "You can't get money from a rock."

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