Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Kirk Hendrick, who is in the middle of a four-year term as the industry’s lead regulator, announced Wednesday he would step down early from the position at the end of the upcoming 120-day legislative session.

The surprise announcement means Gov. Joe Lombardo has two openings to fill on the board that oversees the statewide, 400-person agency charged with regulating and enforcing the laws associated with Nevada’s largest industry. Control board member Brittnie Watkins announced last week that she wouldn’t seek reappointment to the three-member panel.

In a statement, Hendrick said he spoke with Lombardo recently and wanted to give the governor time to appoint the next chairman and provide for “a smooth transition of leadership.” 

In a statement provided by his spokeswoman, Elizabeth Ray, Lombardo said under Hendrick’s leadership “the Gaming Control Board has eliminated bureaucratic hurdles and made tremendous progress in gaming modernization and innovation in Nevada.”

The planned departure was surprising given Hendrick, 60, has only been on the job for two years. He previously headed the attorney general’s gaming division in the late 1990s and spent nearly a decade as an executive and chief legal officer for Ultimate Fighting Championship.

The three-person, full-time board recommends licensing and other matters to the five-person, part-time Nevada Gaming Commission.

In his first year on the control board, Hendrick oversaw a process to eliminate 16 outdated gaming regulations, which complied with a 2023 legislative directive from Lombardo to reduce government bureaucracy. 

In November 2023, Hendrick oversaw the control board hearing for licensing the $3.7 billion Fontainebleau Las Vegas, which first began construction on the north end of the Strip in 2007, only to be mothballed by myriad financial issues.

In December, the control board settled a disciplinary complaint against longtime gaming executive Scott Sibella, who effectively ended his career when he agreed to be added to the agency’s list of denials, revocations and findings of unsuitability — which comes with a five-year ban from applying to re-enter Nevada’s gaming industry. The designation is referred to as the “Gray List.” 

However, the control board still has a pending 12-count disciplinary complaint that was filed last August against the owners and operators of Resorts World Las Vegas, Sibella’s previous employer, for allegedly failing to comply with federal anti-money laundering laws by allowing known illegal bookmakers to gamble millions of dollars at the Strip resort for more than a year. Much of the illegal activity occurred when Sibella was president of the property.

It’s expected the control board would wrap up that matter before Hendrick departs. 

In his statement, Hendrick said that he and Lombardo discussed the board’s accomplishments in the past two years.

“We also discussed more to still be accomplished, including the board’s priorities for the legislative session,” he said.

Former Las Vegas judge George Assad, who Lombardo appointed to the control board in January 2023, will become the senior member of the panel once the governor names replacements for Watkins and Hendrick. 

Whoever Lombardo names to replace Hendrick would fill out the remaining time on his term, which expires in January 2027.