East-coast-based gaming consultant Michael Pollock, co-managing director of the Spectrum Gaming Group and longtime executive director of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States, has announced his retirement.
Pollock, who served as co-managing director at Spectrum for 20 years, will have an honorary title of senior policy advisor and remain active in the industry.
Pollock will continue to oversee the East Coast Gaming Congress, the longest-running gaming conference in the U.S., which he co-founded in 1996. In addition, he will assist Spectrum in its role as executive director of NCLGS, which recently held its summer meeting in Denver. He will also assist with the Racing and Gaming Conference at Saratoga.
The Pennsylvania-based firm announced that Fredric E. Gushin, founder of Spectrum, will become president and CEO. Juliann Barreto, COO, will take a greater executive role in the development of Spectrum’s global business.
“Mike became my partner after a long and distinguished career as a journalist and spokesman for the New Jersey Casino Control Commission,” Gushin said. “Mike’s leadership in igaming, lotteries, and sports betting have contributed to the growth of those segments of the gaming industry and his stewardship of Spectrum’s involvement with NCLGS has revitalized this association.”
Pollock joined forces with Gushin in 2003 to build one of the world’s leading gaming consultancies, which has worked in 43 U.S. states and territories and in 48 countries on six continents. Spectrum clients include 24 U.S. state and territorial governments, eight national governments, 25 Native American entities, and numerous gaming companies (national and international), suppliers, lotteries, financial institutions, developers, and other gaming-related businesses.
Pollock said working with Gushin has been a “privilege of a lifetime” and that he has been more than a business partner.
“He’s a friend and, most importantly, a mentor who has demonstrated to me and the entire gaming world that a successful consultancy rests on the unyielding principles of integrity, honesty, and professionalism,” Pollock said.
Pollock began analyzing the casino industry in 1978 as a journalist covering the emerging Atlantic City market. He oversaw Spectrum’s work in such areas as sports betting, igaming, lottery, and economic-impact studies. He created and oversaw the newsletter Gaming Industry Observer and he led the development of the economic theory that accurately predicted the expansion of igaming in North America.
Pollock has testified before the International Tribunal at The Hague, the World Bank in Washington, D.C., the Chamber of Deputies in Brazil, and the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee and Select Committee on Indian Gaming, as well as numerous legislative committees throughout the United States.
He earned an MBA from Rutgers and is the author of the 1987 book Hostage to Fortune: Atlantic City and Casino Gambling, a pioneering study of gaming’s social and economic impacts.
