New chairman, member named on Nevada Gaming Commission

LAS VEGAS — Nevada has a new state Gaming Commission member, and a longtime commissioner has been promoted to chairman of the five-member panel.

Las Vegas attorney Ogonna Brown was named by Gov. Steve Sisolak to serve a commission vacancy left with the resignation of physician and former commission Chairman Tony Alamo.

Sisolak appointed longtime Commissioner John Moran Jr. as chairman.

Brown is a partner at the law firm Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie with expertise in business litigation and bankruptcy cases and almost 20 years of legal experience.

The appointments were first reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Moran is an attorney in Las Vegas with a long resume of public service, first as a Clark County sheriff’s deputy and later as an appointee to the Colorado River Commission and Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners. His father, John Moran Sr., served three terms as Clark County sheriff from 1982-94.

John Moran Jr. was appointed to the Gaming Commission in 2004 by Gov. Kenny Guinn and reappointed by Republican governors Jim Gibbons and Brian Sandoval.

Moran has served as acting chairman since Alamo stepped down in April to devote more time to his medical practice and battling the coronavirus pandemic.

The Gaming Commission is the oversight body for the three-member regulatory Nevada Gaming Control Board.