Vol. 7 No. 5, May 2008

SPECIAL EDITION: 30 YEARS OF GAMING IN ATLANTIC CITY, Part 4

This week, in a special edition of the Global Gaming Business Podcast the last in a series of four podcasts is presented, featuring people who played roles in the city over those three decades. In the final installment of this series, we give the entire session over to Steven Perskie, who many call the father of casino gaming in Atlantic City. As an assemblyman in the early 1970s, Perskie’s work with Governor Brendan Byrne helped clear the way for gaming. He then, as a state senator, helped to write the Casino Control Act that established the parameters of the industry (and became a blueprint for states legalizing gaming from then on). Then he returned as chairman of the Casino Control Commission in the early 1990s, reforming the regulatory process in such a manner that it encouraged the growth of gaming in Atlantic City to become what it is today.

By Roger Gros

Roger Gros is publisher of Casino Connection International, LLC. Global Gaming Business magazine, Casino Connection Atlantic City and Casino Connection Nevada are among the monthly publications Gros publishes. Prior to joining CCI, Gros was president of Inlet Communications, an independent consulting firm. He was vice president of Casino Journal Publishing Group from 1984-2000, and held virtually every editorial title during his tenure. Gros was editor of Casino Journal, the National Gaming Summary and the Atlantic City Insider, and was the founding editor of Casino Player magazine. He was a co-founder of the American Gaming Summit and the Southern Gaming Summit conferences and trade shows. He is the author of the best-selling book, How to Win at Casino Gambling (Carlton Books, 1995), now in its third edition. Gros was named “Businessman of the Year” for 1998 by the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce.