Although the Nevada Gaming Control Board had recommended approval of a gaming license for Blaine Graboyes, the CEO of GameCo, a skill game maker based in Las Vegas, the final arbiter of the decision, the state Gaming Commission voted 4-1 to reject his bid for licensure. Graboyes had been operating on a temporary license for two years while he clear up some tax issues and liens, and was requesting to be granted an unencumbered license.
Graboyes, known as “Blaine Goldman” in the submission, did not convince the members that his ownership of intellectual property from a bankrupt company known as Beyond Gaming, was above board. Graboyes spend two years as a consultant to Beyond Gaming from 2012 to 2014. Although he claims to have worked hard to make Beyond Gaming a success, he offered $50,000 to buy the technology produced by the company at a time he alleges the company was worthless. When that bid was rejected, and the company declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy, Graboyes acquired the IP. But a former executive with Beyond Gaming, Justin Yamek, alleged that Graboyes engineered the bankruptcy, a charge Graboyes denied.
Graboyes was grilled for nearly four hours by commissioners about a 300-page report compiled by the Dickinson Wright law firm about the Beyond Gaming situation. He claimed he worked diligently to bring success to Beyond Gaming, and says he did nothing wrong.
“I spent more than a year working to try and salvage this company,” Graboyes said according to CDC Reports. “I’ve been incredibly transparent through this process. There was nothing that I was aware of that I needed to disclose.”
He blamed his lawyers for failing to bring this to his attention.
“It doesn’t feel right, and I can’t reconcile it,” said Commissioner Ogonna Brown. “I have trouble with the veracity of the statements he has made today. I don’t feel like he has been truthful. I believe denial is an appropriate step.”
Graboyes was ordered to divest himself of any interest in GameCo, throwing the future of the company into doubt. He told the commission that the company has deployed only 16 machines, four in Oklahoma and 12 in Nevada, while employing 31 people.
GameCo was one of the first companies in the skill-games field in the gaming industry with a product Graboyes called video game gambling. Another early entry, Gamblit, closed its headquarters and manufacturing facility in California in March 2020.
