Mike Lawton, senior economic analyst with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, poses for a portrait outside the Legislature in Carson City on Feb. 18. David Calvert/The Nevada Independent
Michael Lawton has viewed his job as the Gaming Control Board’s senior economic analyst as a customer service role. Since 2010, he’s provided Nevada’s monthly and year-end gaming revenue results – which have ranged from all-time lows set during the pandemic to record highs reached in the last two years.
No matter whom he spoke with – Wall Street analysts, journalists, state lawmakers or Nevada’s Economic Forum – Lawton said his goal was to provide “an intelligent analysis” of what’s happening with the state’s casino industry and explain various trends.
Lawton, 53, is retiring from the control board next week after serving as a gaming agent, auditor and economic analyst for parts of four decades. For now, he hasn’t solidified any future plans. The gaming industry was always part of his life while growing up in Northern Nevada, given his father worked at Harrah’s Tahoe and Harrah’s Reno.
“I was always around gaming,” Lawton said. “Whenever my dad met someone, they'd always want to talk about his job. That kind of stuck with me. I always thought gaming was a fascinating industry. I didn't realize at the time how important it was to the state. It’s the cornerstone for everything that happens here.”
The control board’s monthly and year-end revenue reports gave Lawton a chance to delve beyond the raw numbers and investigate trends and other factors. Lawton said he developed relationships with casino industry operatives who offered background insight on the monthly results, such as whether a major concert in Las Vegas helped boost numbers. His analysis has been helpful to reporters and gaming analysts in explaining the highs, the lows and everything in between.
“I’ve always provided the monthly (research) notes to anyone who asked,” Lawton said, adding the January 2025 control board revenue release was the last of the 173 monthly statements he’s produced, a figure that also includes the state’s annual fiscal year gaming abstract, a financial analysis of nonrestricted gaming licensees producing $1 million or more in gaming revenue that covers gaming and non-gaming spending.
Lawton graduated from UNLV in 1993 from the William F. Harrah School of Hotel Administration, which led to a position at The Mirage through the school’s management program. He began by learning table games, which led to moving to the high-end baccarat room where he became a supervisor. Lawton transferred to the Bellagio in 1998 and helped open the Strip resort’s baccarat room.
Seeking a lifestyle change away from working weekends and holidays after having started a family, Lawton moved to the control board as a gaming agent and auditor.
“I went from the Bellagio (on the Strip) to doing a bingo audit on Water Street (in Henderson),” Lawton said.
However, his experience from watching the activity in the Bellagio’s high-end baccarat room helped once he took over the reporting of monthly gaming revenue totals. The volatility of baccarat winnings — often swayed by just a handful of high-end players — can swing the Strip and state monthly revenue totals up or down.
“There are a handful of customers that play baccarat to a level that moves the needle in one direction,” Lawton said. “You often don’t know when they’re coming and it’s only at a small number of properties.”
During his career, Lawton has worked with eight control board chairs. Because of the relationships he built over the years with Nevada media, the chair would rely on Lawton to offer statements from the board on various topics outside of the typical revenue release.
Lawton often thinks back to his first gaming job at The Mirage. He was a freshman at UNLV when the Strip resort opened in 1989 and was amazed because it was different from any other Strip resort. He visited the property one last time before it closed last July.
“I always thought the palm tree logo was brilliant,” he said, adding that he purchased a $5 chip with the design.
This story was published March 12 by The Nevada Independent and is republished with permission.