Episode Details

What happens when you discover your father was a footnote in mob history and it's your own name in the index? In this episode of From Underdog to Entrepreneur, Pat Miller sits down with Glenn Wichinsky, a distinguished gaming and business law attorney licensed in Florida and Nevada and author of Things Left Unsaid: My Dad, The Mob, and Growing Up in the Nevada Gaming Industry. His memoir, recently featured at the London Book Fair, traces his journey to understanding the truth about his father, a man whose life intersected with organized crime, the early Nevada casino world, and the formative years of a now-global industry.

Glenn shares the extraordinary story of stumbling on his father's name in a book by Danielle Gomes, daughter of a Nevada Gaming Control Board investigator, and how that discovery led him to review sealed FBI and military records that finally connected the dots on a lifetime of unanswered questions. He talks about growing up around unexplained moments and surveillance in a wedding parking lot, photos pulled from albums, warnings at customs, and how his father, despite his associations, worked hard to shield his son from that world entirely.

• How Glenn uncovered his father's hidden past through a stranger's book and sealed archival records

• Why his father pushed him toward law and away from the family business

• How gaming law emerged as a brand-new legal specialty in the 1980s, and how Glenn became one of its pioneers

• The story of rebuilding his career and finances from scratch at 51 after an unexpected divorce, including running a casino in Laughlin, Nevada, while living in a $15-a-night motel

• How an unplanned pivot into international business and marketing became one of his greatest professional skills

• Why trusting your gut and acting on opportunity quickly matters more than overthinking it

• How the gaming industry has evolved from handshake deals to heavy regulation, and what problem gambling looks like in the online era

• Why Glenn now teaches gaming law and established a scholarship in his father's name for students entering the field

About Glenn Wichinsky

Glenn Wichinsky is a distinguished gaming and business law attorney licensed in Florida and Nevada and the author of Things Left Unsaid: My Dad, The Mob, and Growing Up in the Nevada Gaming Industry, a memoir recently featured at the London Book Fair. Glenn originally set out to become a meteorologist before moving to Las Vegas to work alongside his father and later attended law school, where he went on to become one of the pioneers of gaming law as a legal specialty in the 1980s. His career has included running a casino in Laughlin, Nevada, serving as president of a gaming cabinet manufacturing company, and practicing gaming law with a national law firm. Glenn has been teaching gaming law and regulation as an adjunct professor at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, for nine years and established a scholarship in his father's name for students pursuing careers in gaming law.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glenn-e-wichinsky-attorney-98b460

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