■ The expansion of sports wagering has led to the loss of a local attorney to a gaming job elsewhere.

THE U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision on sports wagering in 2018 was widely expected to result in other states drawing upon Nevada’s expertise in the industry.

After all, Silver State casinos have been bookmaking for decades and most are happy to share their knowledge with the new kids on the block.

But one consequence of the rapid spread of the industry is the resulting lure of experienced Nevadans away from the state to new opportunities.

Johnny Avello, the sports book director at Wynn Las Vegas for 13 years, moved on to DraftKings, the daily-fantasy sports giant that set up a gambling operation in New Jersey. While he still lives in Las Vegas, he no longer is with a Nevada company.

Last week, the state of Tennessee took another bite out of Nevada’s collective sports betting regulatory expertise by luring attorney Jennifer Roberts to Nashville to become that state’s director of sports gaming regulation for the Tennessee Education Lottery Corp.

Tennessee is just starting to crank up its version of sports betting with a model never before seen in the United States.

It’ll be completely mobile: Look ma, no sportsbooks.

Just how that is going to be pieced together will rest largely with Roberts, who made many appearances on behalf of clients before the state Gaming Control Board and the Nevada Gaming Commission in her 11 years as an attorney with Lionel, Sawyer & Collins and her 17 years in the state.

Roberts said her greatest memories of Nevada will be working with gaming industry lawyer mentors, including her favorite, the dean of the gaming legal fraternity, the late Robert Faiss.

Faiss, one of the kindest men ever to appear before regulators and judges, inspired hundreds of Roberts’ colleagues over the years.

“I couldn’t have learned from anyone better,” she said. “And then having such great role models, like (Wynn Resorts General Counsel) Ellen Whittemore, seeing what she’s accomplished and done for women in gaming is incredible.

VELOTTA

Las Vegas News Bureau An exterior view of the restaurant Dive! on June 11, 1995, in front of the Fashion Show mall. Even Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steve Wynn couldn’t save the chain when its time had passed. The flagship Los Angeles location closed in 1999.

Elizabeth Page Brumley Las Vegas Review-Journal Mechanical elephants and other animals act as decorations in the Rainforest Cafe at the Miracle Mile Shops on Nov. 15.