Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Gaming regulator, teacher Bybee dies

Shannon Bybee was only 32 years old when he was appointed by then-Gov. 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 scheduled for 11 a.m. today at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel at 1801 S. Monte Cristo Way in Las Vegas.

"There's a wide 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.

Gov. Kenny Guinn issued similar words of praise last week: "UNLV, the state of Nevada and the gaming industry lost a great resource in Shannon Bybee. He was a pioneer in his field who will be missed."

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.

Bybee taught various aspects of gaming management and regulation as associate professor at the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration and the William S. Boyd School of Law at UNLV.

In 1996 Bybee was appointed executive director of UNLV's International Gaming Institute, a group that holds seminars and conferences and publishes a journal on gaming industry issues.

Bybee has mentored leagues of students who now serve as casino regulators worldwide. He also 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," said 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.

Bybee wound down his activities at the college several months ago.

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

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. 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 ch iefs. The publication was paid for by ACE Denken, Japan's largest maker of pachinko machines and a contributor to UNLV's ho! tel college. Bybee befriended ACE Denken executives during trips to Japan several years ago.

Boyd Gaming Corp. Chief Executive and UNLV benefactor William Boyd has established a scholarship endowment in honor of Bybee.

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 the University of Nevada, Reno, 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 casino 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.

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