Gaming Control Board to investigate crimes

Snyder creates unit in Gaming Control Board to investigate crimes
May 3, 2012
By Paul Egan

Detroit Free Press Lansing Bureau

LANSING – Gov. Rick Snyder issued an executive order today to establish a criminal investigations unit inside the state Gaming Control Board.

“By creating a new subunit with expanded access to state and federal criminal justice information, the board will be better equipped to do its duty,” Snyder said in a news release.

The unit’s duties will include conducting fingerprint-based background checks for applicants seeking gaming licenses, investigating claims of illegal gaming, and sharing information with other law enforcement agencies, he said.

Sara Wurfel, a Snyder spokeswoman, said the change will involve the reassignment of “a handful” of existing staff members, possibly two or three, and will not require additional funding.

She said gaming control board officials previously had the power to perform background checks. But due to changes in federal law, they no longer have that power unless they are designated as law enforcement officers, she said.

On April 11, Snyder issued an earlier executive order moving the regulation of “millionaire parties,” which are run by nonprofit organizations and feature casino-style games such as poker, out of the Michigan Lottery Bureau and into the Gaming Control Board.

At the time, Snyder noted the parties had generated nearly $194 million in 2011 and he wanted more effective oversight to assure charities that sponsor the parties “are not being swindled or used as a cover for criminal activity.”

Wurfel could not immediately say whether there was a link between Snyder’s concern in April and the action he took today.

Executive orders take effect in 60 days, unless rejected by the Legislature.

http://www.freep.com/article/20120503/NEWS06/120503057/Snyder-creates-unit-in-Gaming-Control-Board-to-investigate-crimes