Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo has begun making his first appointments to the state’s many boards and commissions, and this past week’s announcement of George Assad to the Gaming Control Board has drawn more than the usual number of furrowed brows and lines of newsprint.

In tandem with the Nevada Gaming Commission, the control board is tasked with regulating and governing the state’s far-flung and economically indispensable casino industry. As the agency’s welcome statement puts it, “through strict regulation of all persons, locations, practices, associations and related activities.” That covers a lot of ground.

In his own statement, Lombardo expressed his conviction that Assad, a Las Vegas Municipal Court judge for nearly a decade and of late a commissioner on the Nevada Transportation Authority, is well-suited to serve as one of the control board’s three members.