Michael Pollock retiring from Spectrum Gaming Group

(PRESS RELEASE) -- Spectrum Gaming Group announced the retirement of Michael Pollock from the business where he served as co-Managing Director for 20 years.

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.

In recognition of Pollock’s many years’ experience and strong standing in the global gaming community, he will have the honorary title of Spectrum Senior Policy Adviser. He will continue to oversee the East Coast Gaming Congress, the longest-running gaming conference in the United States, which he co-founded in 1996. He also will assist Spectrum in its role as Executive Director of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States (NCLGS) and the Racing and Gaming Conference at Saratoga.

“Mike became my partner after a long and distinguished career as a journalist and as spokesman for the New Jersey Casino Control Commission,” said Gushin. “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. While this is the end of an era, I am personally very excited about the future and implementing our plans for the business.”

Pollock joined forces with Gushin in 2003 to build one of the world’s leading gaming consultancies, which has provided its expertise in 43 US states and territories and in 48 countries on six continents. Spectrum clients include 24 US state and territory governments, eight national governments, 25 Native American entities, and numerous gaming companies (national and international), suppliers, lotteries, financial institutions, developers, and other gaming-related entities.

“Working with Fred and the talented Spectrum team has been the privilege of a lifetime,” said Pollock. “Fred Gushin has been more than my partner. He is a friend and, most important, he has been 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 began analyzing the casino industry in 1978 as a journalist covering the emerging Atlantic City market. He oversaw Spectrum’s leading work in areas such as sports betting, igaming, lottery and economic-impact studies. He previously created and oversaw the award-winning newsletter Gaming Industry Observer, and he also led the development of the economic theory that accurately predicted the expansion of igaming in North America.

He has testified before the International Tribunal at The Hague; the World Bank in Washington, DC; the Chamber of Deputies in Brazil; the US Senate Indian Affairs Committee; and the US Senate Select Committee on Indian Gaming, as well as numerous legislative committees throughout the United States.

Pollock is the author of the award-winning 1987 book “Hostage to Fortune: Atlantic City and Casino Gambling,” a pioneering study of gaming’s social and economic impacts.

Pollock, who has won 20 journalism awards in his career, earned his MBA, with high honors, from Rutgers University, and has served as a member of the adjunct faculty of New York University, Rutgers University and Stockton University.