Gaming & Administrative Law

Rated Tier 1, Band 1, and Best Lawyers in Gaming Law

Since our founding in Reno in 1949, McDonald Carano’s Nevada roots have created the global gaming industry’s most established and most experienced gaming law firm. We provide public and private clients from around the world with advice regarding the overall regulatory environment and all gaming industry matters relating to licensing, enforcement, investigations, and compliance. As prior gaming regulators in Nevada, our attorneys have unique insights and continue to influence the ongoing development of Nevada’s gaming laws and regulations which also serve as models throughout the world.

Top Ranked Expertise — Our Gaming Law Practice is ranked in the highest Band 1 category in the 2025 edition of Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (ranked 19 years). Chambers also prominently ranks more of our individual gaming law attorneys than any other law firm in Nevada (A.J. “Bud” Hicks, A.G. Burnett, Greg Giordano, Dennis Gutwald). In the 2025 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, we received our eighth Lawyer of the Year award in Gaming Law and our practice is rated Tier 1 in The Best Law Firms in America. Kelci Binau is recognized in Global Gaming Business magazine’s Emerging Leaders of Gaming 40 Under 40 (Class of 2026), GamblingIQ magazine’s Next Generation of Women Leaders: Magnificent 7 in Legal, Compliance & Responsible Gaming (2026), and CDC Gaming magazine’s 10 Women Rising in Gaming Under 40 (2023).

From offices in Reno, Las Vegas, and Carson City, we have represented nearly every participant in the land-based sector of the gaming industry, from casinos to a variety of other gaming establishments, as well as a vast range of businesses involved in online and mobile gaming. We help clients obtain and maintain licenses and approvals and provide assistance and guidance throughout all steps in the process, including initial application, investigation and interview, public hearing on suitability, and ongoing obligations to update regulators. We also assist businesses involved in the development, management, financing, acquisition, sale and restructuring of gaming projects in both the casino and on-line gaming markets.

Comprehensive Gaming Industry Clients

Our Nevada, U.S., and international gaming industry clients include owners, operators, executives and key employees of casinos, pari-mutuel wagering facilities, hotels and resorts, non-restricted and restricted gaming licensees, online gaming, mobile gaming, social gaming, sports betting and sports books, skill-based gaming, manufacturers and distributors of gaming equipment, providers of gaming software and other technologies, travel centers, lotteries, sweepstakes, promotions, and fantasy sports. Our comprehensive client base also includes Native American tribes, private equity firms, traditional and non-traditional investors and lenders, and banks and other financial institutions.

Restricted Gaming License Lawyers

In addition to serving as counsel to many of the largest, most successful and most well-known casinos on the global stage, McDonald Carano also serves a major multi-million dollar specialty segment of the Nevada gaming industry called the “restricted gaming license” market which permits the operation of a limited number of slot machines in establishments where the operation of such slot machines is incidental to the primary purpose of the business. This large market segment includes licensees, owners, operators, and managers of restricted gaming license establishments, such as bars/restaurants, convenience stores, grocery stores, drug stores, liquor stores, and auto/truck plazas. In this specialty market, McDonald Carano has long represented one of Nevada’s largest slot route operators and convenience-store operators with hundreds of locations throughout the state. (This page on the Nevada Gaming Control Board website provides a schedule of Restricted Licensee Compliance Seminars to “learn about what a restricted licensee can expect from the routine compliance procedures and avoid possible compliance violations by discovering the most common causes and understanding how to prevent them.”)

Unique Gaming Regulator Experience

Our gaming law attorneys have served in a variety of gaming regulator roles prior to joining McDonald Carano. We provide gaming clients with the relationships, reputation, and insights on how to get things done inside gaming regulatory agencies. We provide clients with unmatched practical expertise on the inner workings of gaming regulatory and oversight agencies.

Alvin J. “Bud” Hicks – Prior to becoming a private practice gaming attorney, Mr. Hicks served as Chief Deputy Attorney General for the State of Nevada on gaming matters and served as counsel to the Nevada Gaming Commission in a landmark case that upheld the constitutionality of Nevada’s gaming regulatory structure.
A.G. Burnett – Prior to becoming a private practice gaming attorney, Mr. Burnett served as Chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, a member of the Governor of Nevada’s Gaming Policy Committee, Deputy Chief of the NGCB’s Corporate Securities Division, and Senior Deputy Nevada Attorney General representing the NGCB, the Nevada Gaming Commission, and the Nevada Commission on Sports.
Greg Giordano – Prior to becoming a private practice gaming attorney, Mr. Giordano served as a Deputy Nevada Attorney General representing the Nevada Gaming Control Board and Nevada Gaming Commission, and then served as the Chief of the Corporate Securities Division of the NGCB.
Dennis Gutwald – Prior to becoming a private practice gaming attorney, Mr. Gutwald spent seven years as a Nevada Gaming Control Board Investigative Agent.

Comprehensive Scope of Gaming Law Services

We provide licensing, compliance, transactional, litigation, legislative, regulatory, and government affairs counsel to businesses involved in the gaming industry. McDonald Carano attorneys provide representation to gaming clients in all stages of development, acquisition, and operation, including site location and planning, real estate and land use permitting and zoning, acquisition of interests in existing gaming companies, financings and re-financings, institutional investor investments, construction and expansion of casino properties, and all related gaming licensing and regulatory compliance and enforcement matters.

McDonald Carano gaming lawyers also advise and serve on compliance committees of gaming industry participants to assist with regulatory compliance, reporting requirements, compliance audits, and internal investigations. Our gaming lawyers design practical solutions to address issues and prepare disclosures that satisfy regulatory requirements. Our attorneys currently serve as Nevada Compliance Counsel, Special Compliance Counsel, Independent Member Compliance Counsel and/or Chairman of the Gaming Compliance Committees of many of the most prominent gaming businesses headquartered around the world.

Findings of Suitability and Approvals for Gaming Licenses

Participants in Nevada’s gaming industry need a gaming license approval from the state regulatory authority that issues findings of suitability after conducting thorough background investigations. McDonald Carano’s gaming lawyers help clients obtain and maintain these vital licenses and approvals, guiding clients from the initial application to the investigation and interview process, through the public hearing on the finding of suitability and issuance of a license or approval, and in the ongoing obligation to update regulators. Our gaming lawyers also assist clients with the creation, ongoing review, and implementation of a required corporate Compliance Plan.

We are experienced in working with clients that have existing, new, pending and/or future target market licensing and approval considerations in Nevada, multiple U.S. jurisdictions, and other countries around the world. McDonald Carano gaming lawyers are especially adept at serving as lead coordinating and oversight counsel for the selection, direction, and management of multiple local counsel firms in numerous jurisdictions as well as the establishment and implementation of policies, procedures and protocols for centralized document and other information systems required to ensure the smooth, efficient, and timely application submission and follow-up process.

We routinely work with the gaming commissions, state gaming control boards, and local gaming licensing and regulatory authorities across the United States. Not only do we advise gaming clients, but we also provide guidance to regulatory and other gaming oversight agencies on meeting and drafting regulatory standards.

Our Leadership Shaping the Global Gaming Industry

A.J. “Bud” Hicks co-founded the International Association of Gaming Advisors (IAGA) in 1980 in Nevada when it was known as the National Association of Gaming Attorneys and he continues to serve as an appointed member of IAGA Counselors. Bud’s more than 40 years of service to IAGA has also included serving as a President and Trustee. A.G. Burnett is also a member of IAGA and has served as a former member of the Board of Trustees, a former member of the Regulator Relations Committee, and former Chair of the Governance Committee. Additional members of IAGA include Kelci Binau and Greg Giordano who served as a member of the Board of Trustees. Greg Giordano, A.G. Burnett and Kelci Binau are also members of International Masters of Gaming Law. A.G. received the “Outstanding Achievement Award for the Americas” from IMGL in 2018 and Greg served as Chair of the 2023 IMGL Spring Conference Program Committee.

Our local leadership in the Nevada gaming industry includes Greg Giordano serving as a member of the Executive Committee of the Gaming Law Section of the State Bar of Nevada (2007-2025) and current member of the Gaming Law Advisory Board of the UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law. He also serves as Chief Editor and Author of the Nevada Gaming Law Practice and Procedure Manual, Co-Editor of Nevada Gaming Lawyer, and a member of the Editorial Board Advisory Committee for the UNLV Gaming Law Journal. Additional industry leadership includes Kelci Binau who serves on the Executive Committee of the Gaming Law Section of the State Bar of Nevada (2025-2028) and also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Global Gaming Women.

Prestigious Rankings of our Gaming Law Attorneys

Bud Hicks – (1) Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business – “Senior Statesperson” in Gaming & Licensing Law (2004-2025); (2) The Best Lawyers in America – “Lawyer of the Year” in Gaming Law (2012, 2018, 2021, 2024); (3) The Best Lawyers in America – Gaming Law (2005-2026); (4) The Best Lawyers in America – Administrative & Regulatory Law (2021-2026); and (5) The Best Lawyers in America – Business Organizations (2020-2026).
A.G. Burnett – (1) Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business – Band 1 in Gaming & Licensing Law-Nevada and Gaming & Licensing Law-USA/Nationwide (2021-2025); (2) The Best Lawyers in America – Gaming Law (2020-2026) and Administrative & Regulatory Law (2022-2026); (3) The Best Lawyers in America “Lawyer of the Year” in Gaming Law (2020, 2023, 2025) and “Lawyer of the Year” in Administrative & Regulatory Law (2025); (4) Nevada Business Magazine – “Top Rank Attorneys” (2023); (5) Business Today – Top 10 Influential Nevada Gaming & Licensing Lawyers (2023); and (6) International Masters of Gaming Law – “Outstanding Achievement Award for the Americas” (2018).
Greg Giordano – (1) Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business – Band 2 in Gaming & Licensing Law-Nevada and Gaming & Licensing Law-USA/Nationwide (2004-2025); (2) The Best Lawyers in America – Gaming Law (2005-2026); (3) The Best Lawyers in America – Administrative & Regulatory Law (2024-2026); (4) The Best Lawyers in America – Corporate Law (2025-2026); (5) Vegas Inc – “Top Lawyers” in Gaming Law (2022-2024); and (6) Business Today – Top 10 Influential Nevada Gaming & Licensing Lawyers (2023)
Dennis Gutwald – (1) Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business – Band 2 in Gaming & Licensing Law/Nevada (2022-2025); (2) The Best Lawyers in America – “Lawyer of the Year” in Administrative and Regulatory Law (2025); (3) The Best Lawyers in America – Gaming Law (2020-2026); (4) The Best Lawyers in America – Administrative & Regulatory Law (2022-2026); (5) Vegas Inc – “Top Lawyers” in Gaming Law (2020-2024); and (6) Business Today – Top 10 Influential Nevada Gaming & Licensing Lawyers (2023).
Kelci Binau– (1) The Best Lawyers in America – Gaming Law (2024-2026); (2) The Best Lawyers in America – Administrative & Regulatory Law (2022-2026); (3) Global Gaming Business – “Emerging Leaders of Gaming 40 Under 40” (2026); (4) GamblingIQ – “Next Generation of Women Leaders: Magnificent 7 in Legal, Compliance & Responsible Gaming” (2026); (5) Lawdragon 500 – The Future Leaders of the Law (2025, 2024); (6) Nevada Business Magazine – “Top Rank Attorneys” (2024); (7) CDC Gaming – “Ten Emerging Women Under 40 in the Gaming Industry” (2023); (8) Nevada Women’s Fund – Women of Achievement Honoree (2023); and (9) Northern Nevada Business Weekly Best in Business awards – “Up & Coming Business Person” (2023-2024)

Gaming & Administrative Law

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Rated Tier 1, Band 1, and Best Lawyers in Gaming Law

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