Robert L. Ruben

is a partner in the firm’s Corporate Practice Group and team lead for the Gaming Industry Group . For more than 25 years, Mr. Ruben has focused his practice on gaming law, representing participants in the gaming industry in multiple jurisdictions with respect to a wide variety of regulatory and enforcement matters and business transactions, including:

•Licensing of Casinos, Gaming Equipment Manufacturers, Key Employees, Lenders, and Vendors
•Competitive Bidding for Casino Licenses
•Acquisitions and Dispositions and other Change-In-Control Transactions
•Financing and Re-Financing of Gaming Businesses
•Public and Private Offerings of Equity and Debt Securities
•Negotiation of Material Contracts with Vendors and Other Service Providers
•Regulatory Compliance, Enforcement Actions, and Internal Investigations

Resident in the firm’s Baltimore and Washington, D.C., offices, Mr. Ruben appears regularly before the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission and has been involved in Pennsylvania gaming since its inception in 2005, having represented one of Pennsylvania’s first “Category 1” Racetrack Casinos for its initial licensing by the State Horse Racing Commission and the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. Mr. Ruben has also advised clients with respect to gaming issues and M&A transactions in numerous other jurisdictions, including Nevada, Ohio, Michigan, Massachusetts, Delaware, and New York, and handles financing and M&A transactions throughout the United States.

In addition to entities and individuals who participate directly in gaming and hospitality businesses, Mr. Ruben's clients include financial institutions, private equity firms, hedge funds, private investors, and investment bankers that must either be licensed by gaming regulators, obtain waivers from the licensing requirements, or structure their transactions in a manner that does not require such approvals.

From 1995 to 2002, Mr. Ruben was a member of the board of directors of MTR Gaming Group, Inc. (Nasdaq GS: MNTG), which later merged with Eldorado Resorts, Inc. (Nasdaq GS: ERI), and from 1999 to 2002 was licensed as a principal by the Nevada Gaming Commission.

Mr. Ruben is a 1986 graduate of Pennsylvania State University, Dickinson School of Law, where he was a member of the Law Review and the Woolsack Honor Society, and a 1983 graduate of the University of Virginia.

Resume

Experience

•Duane Morris LLP
- Partner, 2013-present
•Saul Ewing LLP
- Partner, 2010-2013
•Ruben & Aronson LLP
- Partner, 1997-2010
•Freer, McGarry, Bodansky & Rubin
- Partner, 1991-1997
•Wickens, Koches & Brooks
- Associate, 1989-1992
•Bishop, Cook, Purcell & Reynolds
- Associate, 1986-1989

Selected Speaking Engagements

•Speaker, Rules of the Game: Regulation Casino Gaming in Maryland, 2015 Annual Meeting, Maryland State Bar Association (MSBA), June 10-13, 2015

Selected Publications

•Co-author, Governor Returns Virginia Gambling Legislation with Amendments, Including Tax for COVID-19 Fund, Duane Morris Alert, April 17, 2020
•Co-author, Massachusetts Sports Wagering Bill Expected to Be Approved by July, Duane Morris Alert, April 1, 2020
•Co-author, Virginia General Assembly Passes Expansive Gambling Legislation, Duane Morris Alert, March 17, 2020

•Co-author, DOJ Reconsiders Its View on the Wire Act - What Happens Now ? Duane Morris Alert, January 16, 2019

•Author, Threading the Gaming Law Needle is a Losing Bet, Casino Journal, August 3, 2017