From the Daily Herald:

Gaming board leader quits to join Harrah's

By Shamus Toomey Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted June 19, 2003

The state's top gaming regulator resigned Wednesday to become a vice president for Harrah's Entertainment Inc., a Las Vegas gaming giant with two casinos in Illinois.

Philip Parenti, a former federal prosecutor who was appointed Illinois Gaming Board administrator in 2001 by then-Gov. George Ryan, joins a long list of regulators who left to take higher paying jobs within the gaming industry they regulated.

The new job carries a "substantial" raise over the $160,000-a-year salary Parenti made in Illinois, he said without elaborating. Parenti plans to move to Las Vegas and report directly to Harrah's CEO.

The job change drew the ire of anti-gambling activist the Rev. Tom Grey, who noted that Harrah's has expressed interest in buying the dormant Emerald Casino license that Parenti has worked to wrest away after Emerald's owners were ruled unfit.

"Now you have an administrator that pushed for (an Emerald deal) working for the industry," Grey said. "What's the public supposed to think? This doesn't pass the smell test."

Gaming board rules preclude Parenti from having any involvement in the operation of Harrah's Illinois casinos for one year. A gaming board news release Wednesday also said Parenti will have no involvement in any effort by Harrah's to acquire more Illinois casinos.

Parenti scoffed at any criticism about joining the gaming industry, noting that government workers often move into the private sector. High-profile prosecutors, for example, have switched sides to become defense attorneys, he said.

The practice of state gaming regulators - and even law enforcement officials - getting hired by casino companies is not new. In Illinois, it is common to see former gaming board workers representing casinos at board meetings.

Former board administrator Joseph McQuaid became an executive for Emerald. Former board attorney Donna More is now the lawyer for several Illinois casinos. And former deputy administrator Tom Swoik is now the director of the umbrella group that represents the state's nine casinos.

"The industry regards these regulatory bodies as being their farm teams," Grey said. "If they do well, they take them on."

Parenti's tenure on the board began with criticism when it was revealed that he was brokering a more than $600 million deal for MGM Mirage to buy Emerald's license. Critics pounced, saying he should be a regulator, not a deal-broker.

That sale was eventually rejected by the board. Parenti has since worked to hammer out a deal to sell Emerald's license in a competitive bidding process.

Parenti acknowledged Wednesday that Emerald "consumed" much of his time, but he did note that he presided over the launch of the board's program allowing problem gamblers to ban themselves from casinos and he collected the largest gaming fine in Illinois history. The Grand Victoria in Elgin agreed to pay $3.2 million last year after being accused of giving contracts to allegedly mob-linked vendors.