Stay Connected! - Get a Free Blog

ut fate intervened. During a second attempt before new
Jersey’s voters, the casino gaming referendum passed in 1976. Joe
lordi, head of the essex County prosecutor’s office, was tapped by
governor brendan bryne as the first chairman of the Casino Control
Commission. with him came Joe Fusco as director of licensing. Fusco
was the one who tapped levenson.
“it was the right time for a move,” noted levenson, who was
intrigued by a new gaming industry developing in atlantic City. “plus,
i didn’t have to take another bar exam in order to do it,” he joked.
WelCoMe To aTlanTiC CiTy
up until then, levenson had been to atlantic City just once in
his life, when he played the state championship game with his high
school basketball team at boardwalk hall. The atlantic City he was
about to encounter was vastly different than what he remembered.
“back then, the bar was very close knit,” he explained. “if you
didn’t grow up here, you were considered a foreigner. if you came
in as a gaming lawyer, they were likely to run you out of town. i
thought that if i came in as a prosecutor with the white hat, i would
be well respected.”
levenson was called “the 201 boy” at first, a reference to the
area code where he used to reside. his skill was tested early when
he was put on a case of a gang member receiving a stolen van. “now
you have to understand, i had come from prosecuting murder trials,”
said levenson.
levenson plowed ahead, nailing Kenny weaver and his wife
with a conviction that ultimately led to putting several other heavy
hitters in jail. among the colorful characters levenson remembers
from those trials were Doorbuster, a gang member who opened doors
with his head, and parrothead, who sported a colorful tattoo from
eyebrows to neck. “That was my welcome to atlantic County,” he said.
GettinG inTo The GaMe
in a couple of years, levenson moved into private practice in
the law firm that now bears his name, Cooper levenson attorneys at
law. “i knew i wanted to do gaming work,” he said. “so i walked in
the door, and they said there’s something called the world gaming
Congress in las Vegas. now it’s called the global gaming expo. i
hopped on a plane and headed out there.”
Coincidentally, so did Carl zeitz, a prominent member of the
Casino Control Commission. “now Carl was known as being very
strict, a difficult vote to get,” said levenson. “we started talking on the
plane. it was the start of a wonderful friendship.”
zeitz turned out to be levenson’s entry into gaming law. “i was
friendly with the counsel at Caesars,” levenson explained, “and so i
asked him for work. he asked me why he should hire me since i had
no gaming experience? i told him that my good friend Carl might be
able to help. That gave me the shot. Then, the first case that i got, i
wasn’t supposed to win. but i won it, and that started the ball rolling.”
as levenson became immersed in gaming law, he realized
that something was missing. The university of nevada, las Vegas
(unlV) had a research institute. atlantic City had nothing.
nevada had a major gaming conference. mississippi had one too.
again, atlantic City—the second largest gaming jurisdiction in the
world—had nothing.
The topic came up in countless conversations. One in
particular was with michael pollock. “it was his last day as the
public information officer for the Casino Control Commission,”
remembered levenson. “we talked about starting a
conference based in atlantic City.” it was the start of the
east Coast gaming Congress, now in its sixteenth year,
and “every year it’s been more and more successful,”
according to levenson.
atlantic City was starting to make its mark as
the place where leaders in the gaming industry could
share ideas and articulate visions. but there still
wasn’t anything like the unlV international gaming
institute, the non-profit academic and research facility
out in las Vegas.
leT There Be liGhT
enter the richard stockton College of new
Jersey and stockton president herman J. saatkamp,
Jr. “ever since president saatkamp came to stockton,
i began to see the college in a different light,”
acknowledged levenson. “i saw his forcefulness in
trying to make stockton more than just a local college.
That got me thinking.”
From left: Israel Posner, President and CEO of the American Gaming Association, Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr., Dr. Herman Saatkamp, sculptor Brian P. Hanlon and Lloyd D. Levenson
levenson approached Dr. saatkamp with the idea of a gaming
institute. he also discussed the institute with Dr. harvey Kesselman,
current stockton provost and executive Vice president, Dr. israel
posner, a stockton professor and administrator since 1973, and other
high-ranking officials at the school. The rest was history.
“analysis and strategic planning by our school of business has
shown the region would benefit from impartial research as well as
training programs, surveys and other services critical to the gaming
and hospitality industries,” noted Dr. saatkamp in the official press
release that announced the establishment of the lloyd D. levenson
institute of gaming, hospitality and tourism in april 2010. he
indicated that levenson’s assistance made the institute a reality. “his
efforts and generosity promote one of the region’s most important
economic drivers and benefits our entire community and state.”
The new institute combines the expertise and resources of two
previously well-established stockton centers into one comprehensive
umbrella: (1) sigma, which offers a gaming management
curriculum, workshops and customized training programs, and (2)
the new Jersey Center for hospitality and tourism research, which
conducts research and hosts guest lectures.
“simply put, our mission is to provide research and analysis, and
education in a way that supports the gaming, hospitality and tourism
industries in new Jersey,” noted Dr. israel (izzy) posner, executive
Director of the lloyd D. levenson institute of gaming, hospitality
and tourism (light). “That’s not to say that our reach won’t extend
beyond atlantic City, but primarily we are a new Jersey resource.”
STarTlinG STaTiSTiCS anD More
in just a few short years, light has made its mark on the
industry. “it used to be that unlV was quoted whenever there was an
industry story, even one that ran locally,” noted levenson. “now they
call izzy. he’s probably been quoted at least a hundred times.”
Often, reporters reach out to the institute to comment on data
they’ve released. That was the case with the 2012 Casino gaming
preferences survey done by light. released in February, the
survey was based on conversations with 3,043 adults in 16 markets
within a 400-mile radius of atlantic City. among its findings were
that slots are played more often than any other game when visiting a
casino, and more than twice as many men play poker as women do.
armed with this type of information, casinos can plan accordingly to
accommodate visitors.
“it’s not just about gaming, however,” said Dr. posner. “we
focus on everything from gaming to dining, spas, golf clubs, travel.
every year we do a tourism promotion survey where we research
approximately 3,000 adults in 16 different markets between boston
and Virginia and west to Ohio. we’re interested in finding out
their preferences and behaviors relative to travel and tourism, and
particularly their connection to atlantic City. we look at the general
recreational tourist compared to the casino tourist.”
The 2012 tourism promotion survey revealed that atlantic
County tourists spent $10.6 billion in 2010, twice as much as in Cape
may County. The primary purpose of visits to atlantic City was for
gaming, with a close second was simply to vacation. pennsylvania
narrowly edged out new Jersey as the most popular response to
where their last casino trip was, according to the survey. “had it been
conducted at the end of the summer, we likely would have had a
different distribution of responses,” noted the researchers.
interestingly enough, nearly half of respondents had never visited
atlantic City, and another fourth of the people surveyed had not been
here since 2003.
“Our next focus is to survey the people who are not coming to
atlantic City,” said levenson. “we want to understand why, and also
find out how we can adapt our marketing programs to attract them.”
most of the time, the research is publicly available via the
light newsletter and online on the college website. results also are
made available to statewide hospitality and tourism professionals, and
36 | The Boardwalk Journal | May 2012 May 2012 | The Boardwalk Journal | 37