Smoke Signals 3
JULY 1,2008
Michael Boyce takes helm off Gaming Commission
Interesting career includes work in pool hall, railroads and numerous casinos
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
A word of advice, don't challenge
Spirit Mountain Gaming Commis
sion's new director, Michael Boyce,
to a game of pool.
Nobody's saying he's a hustler, but
consider yourself forewarned.
"My folks had a pool hall," Boyce,
54, says, "and the players used to take
me around and teach me the game."
For seven years, Boyce owned an
"upscale billiard room" with a restau
rant, bar and pro shop, and in his mid
30s he played pool professionally.
Before that, he spent 16 years in a
number of jobs with the Santa Fe Rail
road. He started as a train dispatcher,
which he describes as a job similar to
that of air traffic controllers.
While working for the railroad,
he noticed that everybody who was
advancing professionally had higher
education degrees. So he spent six
years going to college while working
for the railroad and earned a bache
lor's degree in finance and a master's
in business administration.
Boyce's casino career started dur
ing a visit to his parent's home in
Reno, Nev. He made the unusual
choice of seeking work below his
ability at casinos there.
"I had the education," Boyce said,
"and I thought, 'Let's try this out."'
He started as a dealer. After he
learned to deal blackjack and run a
craps table, he progressed quickly
through the ranks because of his
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Photo by Michelle Alaimo
Michael Boyce is Spirit Mountain Casino's new Gaming Commission director.
education, becoming an internal
auditor and an accounting manager
at casinos in Nevada.
He went on to become casino con
troller, doing financial and internal
audits, at Kah-Nee-Ta High Desert
Resort & Casino, the Warm Springs'
casino in central Oregon. And just be
fore coming to Grand Ronde, he was
deputy director of the Muckleshoot
Gaming Commission in Washington.
His job included internal audits,
surveillance, licensing, inspectors
and enforcement.
"I really enjoyed overseeing sur
veillance," he says. "You could see
the whole floor. It was satisfying,
having that view and knowing what
to look for."
Boyce took over as director of Spirit
Mountain Gaming Commission on
May 27.
"I was impressed with the broad
range of knowledge he had in the
gaming industry," said Tribal mem
ber and Grand Ronde Gaming Com
mission Chair Denise Harvey. "And
his education.
"I also thought that his personality
will be a good fit with the Gaming
Commission and his staff, as well
as the industry people he will be in
contact with regularly.
"A broad range of skills are needed.
He has them and he has a very good
reputation in the industry. He under
stands the whole operation."
. . Boyce starts at the Grand Ronde
Gaming Commission at a time when
"the rate of change of technology"
has to be the commission's highest
priority.
"It is changing," Boyce says, "from
standalone machines to centralized
determination and downloadable
games."
The industry is moving to a place
where the games will be installed
and monitored "from the back of the
house," instead of switching chips in
and out of individual machines.
"In the future, it may all be done
with software," he says. "Controls
will be passwords.
"As regulators, we're always trail
ing the technology and the only
answer is training."
In a long, colorful career, he most
vividly remembers a job he held with
the railroad.
"I was a drawbridge operator for
a couple of years in the San Joaquin
Delta (in northern California)," he
says. "It was out over the water and
I worked graveyard shift. There was
nobody around for miles. Just the tules
and the fog. And when the fog socked
in, it was kind of eerie."
Among Boyce's hobbies are long
distance running. He ran in the
Sacramento, Calif., marathon on his
50th birthday, and has competed in
the Portland, Ore., marathon twice.
Boyce is married with two grown
sons and a daughter who just gradu
ated from high school. The family has
.. recently moved to West Salem.
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