Feature: UNLV
Both sides now Anthony Cabot has been a leading advocate for the gaming industry but he’s showing regulators the way to the future. By Peter White
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hen Anthony Cabot speaks, people listen. They’ve been listening to him for decades as a frequent presence before Nevada regulators, advocating for the interests of the industry. But he’s got a new cause and a new bully pulpit at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Cabot is taking up the cudgels on behalf of the problem gambler and on how he or she is treated in the Silver State (poorly, in Cabot’s opinion). That was the jumping-off point for a wide-ranging conversation about Cabot’s beginnings in gaming law, his role at the William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV, the innovative programming being done at the latter and, finally, the future of post-pandemic Las Vegas. Today we’re privileged to have Anthony Cabot, Distinguished Fellow of Gaming Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Welcome, Tony. Thank you for having me. What led you to a life specializing in gaming law? Forty years ago, I’d just gotten out of law school, and didn’t have a direction at that point. I happened to be interviewed by a firm from Las Vegas. I liked the firm, came up to Las Vegas, and had the privilege of working for the former governor, the founder of gaming law in Nevada—Grant Sawyer. I did what Grant did at first, and Grant did gaming law, along with Bob Faiss, and they became my mentors 40 years ago. I naturally evolved into the practice from there. Tell us about the William S. Boyd School of Law? So it’s at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. It’s a public university. It’s one of the higher-ranked law schools in the United States. It started about 25 or so years ago, and even from its initial beginning, it had a gaming-law class. This makes sense because you ought to be teaching gaming law if you’re in Las Vegas and have a law school. I started as an adjunct Volume 17: Issue 148
Anthony Cabot, Distinguished Fellow of Gaming Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada-Las Vegas
professor, almost 20 years ago, and we gradually built the program. The gaming-law program at the Boyd School of Law began with one class and now we have nearly a dozen classes. We have a dedicated gaminglaw journal. We have a Master of Law program. Now we’re starting the executive-law program. With regards to the pandemic, how have the past 12 months been and what would you are the high points of the last 12 to 18 months? Well, the high points are fewer. It’s tough to get through a pandemic when you’re a teacher. One 33
