STATESIDE want them in their neighborhoods.
• Bob was available to assist inexperienced companies and other countries to successfully design their own programs.
Sadly, Bob’s 2014 passing left a gaping hole for those he touched. I recently reviewed my phone contacts to edit old entries and saw Bob’s still listed. I’ll keep it for a while. Anyone who works in gaming, or who
made their way to Atlantic City and other new states legalizing gaming for decades. When Bob rose to prominence, Nevada had a small population. It still does at 3.2 million (32nd in the U.S.), but has an enormous reach that Bob helped make possible.
Some of his key achievements include:
• In the late 1970s, he helped amend a statute to permit Nevada gaming companies to participate in other states’ gaming ventures. That coincided with Atlantic City’s launch in May 1978.
Consider the giants who quickly took advantage-Bally’s, Caesars, Harrah’s and Steve Wynn. Today, most companies have multiple properties. • In 2001, Bob’s early legislation helped establish Internet gaming in Nevada. That model was a foundation for those states who legalized online gaming.
• He helped develop gaming enterprise districts in Nevada’s cities, which allowed public discourse as to casinos’ locations. While most people support casinos, few
benefi ts from it, owes Bob a debt of gratitude, but I would bet that few know him by name. I’m not surprised. Who knows their great- grandparents and early ancestors except for maybe their names? In America, exceptions are families with longer histories. Not mine…my people landed in New York City’s Ellis Island in the late 1880s/early 1890s. I do know their names and some general background. Nothing lasts forever. Unless one is historic, neither does their actual fame and relevance. In New Jersey, one honor is naming a rest stop/ restaurant for them on the Turnpike, Garden State Parkway or the Atlantic City Expressway. Wow…what a tribute!
On the New Jersey Turnpike, some homegrown legends include singers Frank Sinatra and Whitney Houston, inventor Thomas Edison, winning National Football League (NFL) coach Vince Lombardi and American Red Cross founder Clara Barton. Poet Walt Whitman also has a bridge connecting New Jersey and Pennsylvania named for him.
However, an “average” person’s name and deeds can often impact strangers. I recently met a woman called Joan whose late father had once operated a small Philadelphia vending company. After an injury, he sold the business. She then mentioned another vendor who had helped him during tough times.
That guy coincidentally turned out to be my dad, Stan. Joan knew nothing about me and we both couldn’t believe it. Although she never met my dad, she has never forgotten his name. What were the odds of sitting near her on a plane and having that conversation? Slim to almost none. Daddy… I’m proud of who you were.
Sharon Harris
Sharon has worked in the casino and coin- operated amusement industries since the 1980s. In the early 1990s, Sharon transferred her public relations and journalism skills to the gaming industry. She wrote her fi rst feature for Casino International predecessor EUROSLOT magazine in 1994.
As Associate Editor, North America for Casino International, Sharon has chronicled the explosive growth of U.S. gaming and reported on its most signifi cant changes. She has traveled across America to participate in dozens of industry events and has interviewed
hundreds of gaming operators,
executives and suppliers.
It just proves that all types of people can quietly affect others without a lot of fanfare. Bob Faiss was one of the best.
BMM qp strip CI
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