Exclusive: Matt Schuler Discusses Retirement, Looks Back at Tenure with Ohio Casino Control Commission

It felt warm waiting around for the Ohio Casino Control Commission meeting to end an executive session of its meeting last week. Uncomfortably so.

The foyer outside the conference room at the Charles D. Shipley Building in Columbus buzzed with activity, but with most of the men in suits or sportscoats, occasionally one of them (OK, one of us) would dab sweat off their forehead.

While most of us tried not to look miserable, there was one man in the crowd who wasn’t. Matt Schuler, the first and only executive director for the Ohio Casino Control Commission, was attending his last in that position. He’s retiring, effective at the end of this month, with Andromeda Morrison, the current deputy executive director and general counsel, starting as the interim leader on June 1.

Most of the OCCC’s meeting was to honor him for his work. While we were mingling, others were in an adjacent room setting up refreshments for a party afterward. Throughout, Schuler looked like someone relieved that he wouldn’t have to discuss Brandon Sorsby, Luis Ortiz, or Kalshi ever again.

If I look happy, it’s because I’m like the commission is doing exactly what it should be doing, and it’s creating a very smooth transition that makes abundant sense with a great team that’s going to do the same great job, whether I’m here or not,” Schuler said in a virtual one-on-one with Gambling Insider one day after the OCCC meeting.

Schuler discussed his decision to retire, his tenure at the commission, his thoughts on the industry, and his future plans.

His comments have been edited for brevity.

GI: What led to your decision to retire at this time?

MS: Probably a lot of things, but I’ve been doing this for almost 15 years and became eligible for retirement at the beginning of this year (note: Before the OCCC, Schuler worked in the Ohio Senate as a legislative aide, clerk and chief of staff) and gave it a lot of thought whether I wanted to stay and keep doing what I’m doing or go to greener pastures. At least greener from my perspective, maybe, and let the team that’s here do their job, probably do it better, and stay innovative and creative, make tons of improvements.

I fundamentally believe that we’re all temporary stewards in the positions that we sit in. So, I’ve never considered this chair mine, and I just felt in my heart that it was time for the commission to be able to have fresh leadership, fresh eyes, fresh voice and let the team grow and expand. I don’t mean expand in size, but expand in their responsibilities, and let their talents continue to grow, and it just all came together.

It wasn’t an easy decision, I will tell you. I’ve never been in a job this long in my life, and I wouldn’t have stayed, except the team here is so great, and I knew I would never be able to go to another place and have this same kind of team that we have here at the Commission. So, I’ve enjoyed it, but I think it’s time to give my keys over to someone else.

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GI: Did the upcoming gubernatorial election factor into your decision?

MS: Not at all. I’ve been around for a lot of changes, whether in my previous jobs or this job, there is constant change at the top. Through my career, I’ve had a good experience working with leaders on both sides of the aisle, I think the commission has a terrific track record, one that I’ve boasted about since we started in 2011.

The commission we have today, I call it the second commission, or the commission for the second decade, we’ve been very blessed with great appointees, and I don’t know why any governor, whoever ends up winning, wouldn’t continue the tradition of making sure that there are people here that are committed to the integrity of gaming, just like everybody that’s come before them.

I was not going to have this team subject to armchair quarterbacks at the end of a process, saying, ‘Oh, that was the commission. The commission didn’t do this.’”

GI: Are you looking to stay involved in in the gambling industry?

MS: No, I’m not at all. I don’t plan on doing anything in the gaming industry in any way.

My interest in taking this job wasn’t because it involved gaming. It was a chance to learn from Chair Jo Ann Davidson (a longtime Ohio lawmaker and Speaker of the House) and be able to have my hand among other hands on a steering wheel to get this agency up and formed and to do the job the General Assembly gave us to do. That was my interest.

That’s not to say that the industry we regulate isn’t interesting. There are a lot of boards and commissions in the state of Ohio, and this one subject matter is interesting. It never stops changing. It’s always evolving, growing new ideas on the horizon, new challenges at every turn, and you know that’s great. That’s not something to run from. That’s what people want in a job, to have regular challenges. Most of those challenges result in opportunities, and it’s really where having a good team helps navigate through some of those things are just not easy. The journey through them becomes a little bit better when you have people on that journey that you know you trust.

[Taking a job just for a check] is not going to happen. It would have to be a pretty special thing that I’d put my hand to, but right now I’m just going to take a little break. I’m just going to invest time with my parents, my family, and I’d say my dog, but we’re not on speaking terms.

GI: Many times, you used your opening remarks at commission meetings to talk about what’s happening in the industry, both in and out of Ohio. How much did you appreciate that this position allowed you to get across your point of view?

MS: [That was] one thing that was very important to me during the sports gaming stand-up, where about every two weeks, I would do the executive director’s report. Everyone was wondering what I was going to highlight that week, and we were getting a lot of attention, too. I knew people were watching what was going on, so it was a tremendous opportunity to make sure that everyone knew exactly what was going on, what was going right, and what was going wrong. Because transparency is super important. It needs to be backed up by facts and the truth, and good, bad, or somewhere in the middle.

I wanted to make sure everyone knew exactly what was going on, both for my team here and for the commission, because they were working around the clock to meet a deadline to get everybody to the starting gate on New Year’s Eve [2022]. And if there was any problem getting there, I wanted everybody to know exactly why it wasn’t. This team was working too hard, doing everything the right way. Everyone was given all the information. Every stakeholder got the same information at the same time. We were committed to good communication. We were good at putting out the cadence of responsibilities, and if any of that went off track, I was not going to have this team subject to armchair quarterbacks at the end of a process, saying, ‘Oh, that was the commission. The commission didn’t do this.’

I wanted to make sure everyone knew exactly what the commission was doing every two weeks, and frankly, who in the industry wasn’t carrying their weight to meet that goal of being ready by New Year’s Eve. Sometimes it was that kick in the pants that got some of these operators moving because they weren’t, and so in some cases it was motivation to get people going. It was also to make sure that the cadence of work that the commission was all laid out there in public, and if there was anything good or bad on that, that it was put out there.

We’re not out to tar and feather them, and we’re not out to put them on a pedestal. We’re just out there to talk the truth, and you know that’s something that we’ll continue to do – when I say we, I guess I should start saying the team – but from the commissioners on down, that distinction has been very important to us. Because we all have seen places where regulatory bodies become way too cozy with the regulated. That’s when scandals occur, and that’s not going to happen here.”

GI: Under your watch, Ohio has been one of the more proactive, if that’s the right word, or watchful gaming regulators. How did that come about?

MS: One of the first documents that the members of the commission adopted – way before I got here – was the commission’s code of conduct. That code of conduct underscores that we’re not lawmakers for policy. We’re not policymakers. We enforce what those decision makers put in the law, which, by the way, makes our job, as far as I’m concerned, pretty straightforward.

We operate within those four corners. You get a good law, and we execute. It also drew a bright line that there is a distinction between the role of the commission and the role of our operators. We are not their cheerleaders. We are not their advocates. They are private businesses that are regulated by the state. We understand that our role and what we do and how we regulate is in the totality of the casinos’ businesses is one part of their business. We’re not the totality of their business, and our job is to follow the law, but not to get in their way of doing the work that they’re supposed to be doing as businesses in the hospitality industry and gaming industry.

There is a line there, but the line for us is we’re the regulator, they’re the operator, and there is no gray in between that line. That was one of those things that Speaker Davidson made sure was one of the hallmarks of the commission’s mission, as we would never blur those lines. I took that to heart, and everybody else has taken that to heart, because we know our role, right? We’re not policymakers, and we can give lots of information to policymakers, and they also know it’s objective. We don’t have anything to gain one way or the other, so when we put something forward, it’s unbiased information that can be taken to the bank.

The operators may not like it; they may like it. I think they appreciate that we tell the truth. We’re not out to tar and feather them, and we’re not out to put them on a pedestal. We’re just out there to talk the truth, and you know that’s something that we’ll continue to do – when I say we, I guess I should start saying the team – but from the commissioners on down, that distinction has been very important to us. Because we all have seen places where regulatory bodies become way too cozy with the regulated. That’s when scandals occur, and that’s not going to happen here.

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GI: What advice would you give someone who is getting ready to lead a gaming commission?

MS: I always say I have a lot of bosses. I have seven commissioners. There’s 132 members of the General Assembly and the Governor’s office. I mean there’s just a lot of folks that are important stakeholders in what we do.

No executive director in any state can make everybody happy, but one thing that they can do, and I would say to do this, is stand on the four corners of that law. Because that is what was produced. That’s what the policymakers decided on. (Stakeholders) may like one part, may not like another. Lord knows (lawmakers) don’t like every part of a bill that gets passed, but they’ll still vote yes. But that’s it. That is a simple place to be, and that’s where we’ve been laser-focused. Because to stray outside of that, once you step outside of your statutory mission, then you really are subject to a lot of criticism and rightfully deserved. I felt like we were very strong on that front.

I think my background, when I first got in here, I wanted to operate this place in a way where all of the concerns and criticisms that I’ve heard over the years about how state agencies take laws and implement them. We were not going to make those same mistakes. So, it’s with that I think that’s the most important thing. By the way, to do your level best to communicate every single time you do something while you’re doing it, and when it’s by the law, I think that’s a safe space.

People can criticize the law all they want. Our job is to implement it, and we don’t take liberties with that responsibility.

GI: What’s June 1 going to be for you?

MS: I am probably going to wake up, have a cup of coffee, think about all the things that (mimics closing a file) ‘Oh, I don’t have to worry about that anymore.’ I’ll also be the guy in the background applauding, applauding the team all the way along. I expect they’re going to do wonderful things.