New Jersey’s prime gaming regulator known as it quits on Friday after almost 13 years main the state Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE).
New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement Director David Rebuck speaks on the opening of Ocean On line casino Resort on June 28, 2018. Rebuck retired final week after main the DGE for almost 13 years. (Picture: Press of Atlantic Metropolis)
David Rebuck, 71, exits with the honour of being the longest-serving director in DGE historical past. Rebuck assumed the function in early 2012 and retired with 36 years of service to New Jersey.
All through his profession, David Rebuck has exemplified professionalism, innovation, and management because the gaming trade remodeled, first with the legalization of web gaming in 2013, after which with the brand new period of sports activities gaming in 2018,” mentioned New Jersey Legal professional Normal Matthew Platkin.
Platkin mentioned Rebuck’s intensive data of the gaming and on line casino industries led to New Jersey being acknowledged as a regulatory chief and pacesetter within the U.S. The legal professional basic appointed DGE Deputy Director Mary Jo Flaherty as interim director. Flaherty has been with the DGE for greater than 40 years.
The DGE is a regulation enforcement company and the investigative arm of the on line casino regulatory system in New Jersey that’s liable for imposing the state’s On line casino Management Act.
Tenure Included Monumental Modifications
Whereas Rebuck’s document of main the DGE for nearly 13 years could be damaged within the a long time forward, the percentages are lengthy that any forthcoming tenure will embrace such huge modifications and challenges on the company. Rebuck was appointed DGE director by Gov. Chris Christie (R) on April 29, 2011. He was sworn into the function on Jan. 24, 2012.
Lower than two years later, the Atlantic Cub On line casino Resort on Jan. 13, 2014, can be the primary of 5 casinos to shutter. The Claridge On line casino Resort adopted a month later. By that September, the Showboat, Revel, and Trump Plaza casinos had additionally closed. Trump’s Taj Mahal closed two years later in 2016.
Atlantic Metropolis’s remaining casinos then contested their assessed property valuations in an effort to cut back their property tax liabilities. The native metropolis neared chapter, resulting in Christie’s administration to a state takeover of the city’s governance.
The casinos subsequently entered right into a PILOT program with the state. The payment-in-lieu-of-taxes primarily based on their collective gross gaming income helped stabilize the market. Trump Taj Mahal and Revel reopened in June 2018 respectively as Arduous Rock and Ocean On line casino.
Rebuck’s administration moreover applied regulatory protocols for the growth of on-line casinos, in addition to retail and on-line sports activities betting. New Jersey emerged as a gold customary, complementing Nevada on finest regulatory practices for the U.S. industrial gaming trade.
Don’t look to Rebuck to take credit score.
I’ve all the time mentioned the achievements at DGE haven’t been the results of anybody individual,” Rebuck mentioned on Friday. “I’ve been privileged and grateful to work with a tremendous group at DGE and to serve beneath two governors and eight attorneys basic.”
Rebuck’s profession with the state started in January 1988 when he joined New Jersey Legal professional Normal W. Cary Edwards’ workplace as a deputy legal professional basic.
Award Forthcoming
Rebuck shall be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award on the twenty seventh Annual East Coast Gaming Congress on April 18. The occasion is hosted at Arduous Rock.
“On account of his management, the gaming trade has grown, and so has New Jersey’s popularity as a jurisdiction that is aware of the way to regulate successfully,” mentioned ECGC cofounder Lloyd D. Levenson. He’s the chairman and CEO of the Cooper Levenson regulation agency and namesake of Stockton College’s Levenson Institute of Gaming, Hospitality, and Tourism.
An earlier model of this text wrongly recognized Arduous Rock changing Trump Plaza. Trump Plaza was demolished in 2021. Arduous Rock changed Trump Taj Mahal.
