Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Togliatti appointed to Gaming Commission as 1st female chair

Amanda Aragon Memorial Garden

Christopher DeVargas

Chief Judge Jennifer Togliatti makes remarks during the dedication of the Amanda Aragon Memorial Garden at Grant Sawyer Middle School, May, 27, 2011. Amanda was killed while walking to school in 2005.

Sen. Ben Kieckhefer

Sen. Ben Kieckhefer

CARSON CITY  — Gov. Steve Sisolak appointed former Judge Jennifer Togliatti and state Sen. Ben Kieckhefer to the Nevada Gaming Commission on Friday, in a move that will give the powerful five-member gambling regulatory panel its first female chair.

Togliatti, a former prosecutor and district court judge, retired in 2019 and will be the first woman to lead the commission in its 62-year history. Kieckhefer, a Reno Republican, resigned from his state Senate seat on Thursday, a day before Sisolak, a Democrat, announced the appointment. He was not eligible to run for reelection due to term limits.

“Both Judge Togliatti and Senator Kieckhefer are highly qualified appointments to these positions, and I am glad to have them continue their service to the Silver State by serving on the Nevada Gaming Commission,” Sisolak said in a statement.

The commission oversees gambling regulation in Nevada and approves the actions of the Gaming Control Board. It adopts regulations to enforce state gambling laws and serves as judge in disciplinary proceedings against businesses with gambling licenses.

Togliatti and Kieckhefer will replace former commission members Deborah Fuetsch and John Moran Jr. The commission is scheduled to meet next on October 28.