Gaming regulator, teacher Bybee dies at 65

By Liz Benston (contact)

Monday, Sept. 22, 2003 | 11:05 a.m.

Shannon Bybee was only 32 years old when he was appointed by then-Governor Mike O'Callaghan to serve on the state Gaming Control Board in 1971, one of the youngest members ever appointed to the powerful regulatory post.

As a board member Bybee helped draft regulations governing publicly traded companies and other key rules that are now an accepted part of casino regulations worldwide.

It is only one facet of a far-reaching career.

Bybee, 65, died in a local hospice last week after a long battle with a degenerative liver disease. Services were planned for this morning at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel at 1801 S. Monte Cristo Way in Las Vegas.

"There's a wider void in gaming today," Peter Bernhard, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Commission, told a room of gaming attorneys who gathered last week for a seminar at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"Much of what you do, much of your effectiveness, can be traced back to the work Shannon Bybee has done," Bernhard said.

Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, taught Bybee at the University of Nevada, Reno, in the late 1960s. Fahrenkopf, who taught criminal justice, also got to know Bybee through visits to meet clients at the county jail, where Bybee was a guard.

"The state of Nevada has lost a distinguished class act" who will be most remembered for his commitment to responsible gambling, Fahrenkopf said.

Las Vegas attorney and family friend Frank Schreck said Bybee has probably had the greatest effect on Nevada's casino regulations than any other single person.

"To those he regulated, he'll be known as a very tough and fair regulator," Schreck said. "To those he taught, he'll be known as a great teacher and administrator."

Schreck, then 27, was appointed to the Nevada Gaming Commission the same year that Bybee joined the Gaming Control Board. The two became fast friends and later worked in private practice together. While Schreck was known for his hard-driving personality, Bybee was soft-spoken.

"He had a tremendous impact on a lot of us, but I never could remember him telling me what to do," Schreck said. "He's someone who leads by doing things. You followed what Shannon did because you knew that what he was doing was right.

"He would make tough decisions, but he was as polite and low-key as you can imagine," he said.

Born in Tropic, Utah, in 1938, Bybee began his career as a military policeman at West Point and later became a deputy sheriff in Washoe County while attending UNR, from where he graduated in 1966. He graduated second in his class from the University of Utah's College of Law in 1969, then served as a clerk to Nevada Supreme Court Chief Justice Jon Collins before joining a law firm. He served as the enforcement expert of the Gaming Control Board until 1974.

In 1978 Bybee joined Steve Wynn's Golden Nugget Inc. as a vice president and later ran Wynn's Golden Nugget in Atlantic City. He served as chief executive of the city's Claridge hotel from 1988 through 1993 and later was appointed president of a slot maker that would eventually become Alliance Gaming Corp. He left the company in 1994 to teach at UNLV.

Bybee said his turn as a gaming executive didn't conflict with his Mormon faith, which opposes gambling.

Church membership is based on "individual worthiness, not the job they hold," Bybee said in an interview with In Business Las Vegas, a sister publication of the Las Vegas Sun, in July. "It's the personal behavior that counts."

The part of his career that made him "most proud" was teaching at UNLV, Bernhard said.

As an associate professor at the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration and the William S. Boyd School of Law, he mentored leagues of students who now serve as casino managers and regulators worldwide.

In 1996, Bybee was appointed executive director of UNLV's International Gaming Institute, which holds seminars and conferences and publishes a journal on gaming industry issues. When Bybee retired from teaching at the law school two years ago, Boyd Gaming Corp. Chief Executive and UNLV benefactor William Boyd established a scholarship endowment in his honor.

Bybee has been instrumental in the success of the institute, which has become a beacon for industry professionals, associates say.

"His professional experience as a gaming regulator and in the gaming industry proved to be enormously valuable to both the students who took classes from him and to the development of the programs and activities in the International Gaming Institute," UNLV President Carol Harter said. "The UNLV community will miss him greatly."

"He's going to be impossible to replace," added Stuart Mann, dean of UNLV's hotel college. Mann also serves as dean of the gaming institute, handling the day-to-day management of seminars, workshops and courses while Bybee handled media calls and represented the institute in the community.

"His loss is tremendous -- we have felt that for some time now," Mann said.

Bybee has had the greatest public role as an advocate of problem gambling awareness and treatment. His interest in the issue -- at a time when few casino bosses would touch the problem -- paved the way for Nevada regulations governing problem gambling.

Bybee served as the first president of the National Council on Problem Gambling and was the first to introduce problem gambling information at UNLV, where it is now part of the curriculum for training future hotel and casino chiefs. He also has served as president of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling, which created an award in his name in 2001 to honor contributions to the field.

"His compassion equals his integrity," said Carol O'Hare, executive director of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling. "But the fact is that he was involved with so many people doing so many things that the influence Shannon has had will certainly continue to be felt in the community in a positive way."

About two months ago UNLV unveiled a book collecting many of Bybee's lectures, articles and reports. The book -- "Evidence of a Serendipitous Career in Gaming" -- also is a who's who of accolades from politicians and casino chiefs. The publication was paid for by ACE Denken, Japan's largest maker of pachinko machines and a contributor to UNLV's hotel college. Bybee befriended ACE Denken executives during trips to Japan several years ago.

Bybee is survived by his wife, Norma Reid Bybee, two daughters and three sons.