(Photo: Ronda Churchill/Nevada Current)
Gov. Joe Lombardo announced Wednesday that Reno deputy city attorney Chandeni Sendall will fill a seat on the Nevada Gaming Control Board vacated by Brittnie Watkins, whose term ended this week. Watkins, appointed by Gov. Steve Sisolak in 2021, declined to seek reappointment.
Sendall began working at the City of Reno in 2015. Before that she worked as an in-house legal intern for Caesars Entertainment, and clerked for former Nevada Supreme Court Justice James Hardesty. She is a graduate of the Boyd School of Law at UNLV. Before becoming a lawyer, Sendall worked as an internal auditor for Caesars Entertainment.
“With her unique background in law and compliance, Chandeni will bring fresh insight and critical perspective to the Board,” Lombardo said in a news release Wednesday. “I look forward to her leadership and contributions to gaming oversight in our state.”
“Along with my legal background, I look forward to applying my educational background in economics and my work experience in the gaming industry as I begin this new role at the Nevada Gaming Control Board,” Sendall said, according to the news release.
Lombardo must still name a successor for GCB Chairman Kirk Hendrick who informed the governor earlier this month that he will be leaving the post at the end of the 2025 legislative session.
Hendrick was appointed by Lombardo in 2023. His successor will be the sixth person to chair the board in seven years.
“If the goal of the Board is to offer stable leadership, this turnover is a joke,” gaming expert Richard Schuetz, who contends the appointments have become politicized, wrote in a recent column. “In short, the chairs were gone by the time they figured out everyone’s name, where stuff was, what their job entailed, and who they could trust. That leads to terrible regulation.”
Hendrick’s departure leaves former Las Vegas Judge George Assad as the board’s most senior member as regulators face critical matters, including money laundering investigations at major resorts.
Assad, shortly after his appointment to the board by Lombardo in 2023, announced allegations “against Resorts World and its president, Scott Sibella, were found to be unsubstantiated.”
Months later the Current reported authorities out of California were conducting a criminal investigation of Sibella, Resorts World and MGM Grand.
Sibella agreed to a plea deal, admitting to one count of failing to file an anti-money laundering report for a large cash payment from admitted illegal bookmaker Wayne Nix. MGM Resorts paid a $7.45 million fine on behalf of MGM Grand and the Cosmopolitan.
The GCB, which was late to join the probe, has entered a stipulated agreement with Sibella. In August, the GCB filed a complaint against Resorts World but has yet to take action against MGM Grand.