Frank Fahrenkopf, the nation's top gaming lobbyist, is calling it quits as head of the American Gaming Association.

Fahrenkopf, 73, a native of Reno, Nev., said Monday he plans to step down in June as the first and only president/CEO of the association created in 1994 to squelch a proposed 4 percent gross receipts tax on casinos that would have funded the Clinton administration's welfare reform legislation.

"They dropped it quickly," Fahrenkopf said of the impact of opposition from the gaming industry as well as state governors, including then-Gov. Bob Miller of Nevada.

But what was supposed to be a one-year stint at the AGA helm turned long-term as the industry grew from 12 states and revenues of $16 billion in 1995 to 23 states with $35.6 billion in revenues last year, according to the association.

Indeed, gaming in the mid-'90s was far different than today. Tribal casinos had yet to open. And few imagined, Fahrenkopf said, what the emerging Internet would eventually mean to the industry.

And then there was gambling's image.

"Within one month of our opening, the movie Casino came out and that didn't help get rid of old stereotypes," he said of the movie's depiction of organized crime in the Las Vegas casino business.

"We're a mainstream part of the economy now, with hundreds of thousands of people employed in casinos nationwide," he said. "We do polls every year and it's pretty consistent: 15 percent of people oppose all forms of gambling. You'll never change them and all we can do is respect their views. But 80 percent believe gaming is all right, and that's a very positive thing for our industry."

Word of Fahrenkopf's departure brought praise from industry leaders.

"The impact of his leadership stretches well beyond Washington," Jim Murren, chairman/CEO of MGM Resorts International, said in a statement. "It hasn't always been easy to bring our disparate group together, but he did it. Frank's legacy at the AGA is testament to what we can accomplish together."

Fahrenkopf said the American Gaming Association has grown from four employees to a staff of 12, and its role has expanded from lobbying Congress and the federal government to operating the National Center for Responsible Gaming and putting on the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, which attracts more than 30,000 people, and G2E Asia.

Fahrenkopf said he will remain with the AGA in a consulting role through 2013 to help efforts to get federal legislation approved governing Internet gambling between states.

Congress has failed in recent years to address sanctions, notably on online poker - which is legal overseas and generates as much as $6 billion annually, according to industry and national media reports.

"We'll have to wait and see," Fahrenkopf said of the new Congress that convenes this month. "Absent a federal law, you'll see state-by-state intrastate Internet gaming."

Fahrenkopf was a Reno lawyer before working in Republican politics at the state level and becoming chairman of the Republican National Committee, a title he held for six of President Ronald Reagan's eight years in the White House. He also helped lead the party through the 1984 and 1988 presidential elections.

He continues to serve as co-chairman of the Commission on Presidential Debates, which conducts the general election presidential and vice presidential debates.

By Bill O’Driscoll, Reno Gazette Journal