Steven Andrew Light, Ph.D. (B.A. Yale, Ph.D. Northwestern; Certificate, Harvard Management Development Program), is Visiting Professor of Indian Nations Gaming and Governance at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Steve is Chester Fritz Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Public Administration Emeritus and is former Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Interim Dean of Business and Public Administration, and Interim Dean of Nursing and Professional Disciplines at the University of North Dakota. At UNLV, he has taught Law and Leadership, Tribal Sports Betting, Advanced Legal Analysis and Writing in Indian Gaming, and Current Issues in Tribal Governance, and is a faculty advisor to the UNLV GAMING LAW JOURNAL.

With Kathryn R.L. Rand, J.D., Steve co-founded the Institute for the Study of Tribal Gaming Law and Policy at the University of North Dakota as the first university research center dedicated to advancing knowledge and understanding of Indian gaming and socioeconomic development. A political scientist and a law professor, Light and Rand are widely regarded as the nation’s leading academic experts on tribal gaming enterprises and socioeconomic development. They have authored over 75 publications exploring issues related to tribal governance and gaming, addressing how and why tribally owned casinos came to be and how they have remade the legal, political, and regulatory landscape for gaming and socioeconomic development across the U.S. Their books, seen as standards in the field, include INDIAN GAMING LAW: CASES AND MATERIALS (3d ed. 2026), INDIAN GAMING LAW AND POLICY (3d ed. 2025), and INDIAN GAMING AND TRIBAL SOVEREIGNTY: THE CASINO COMPROMISE (2005), which was featured on C-SPAN’s BOOK TV.

Light and Rand have testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, and have been featured speakers at numerous university and gaming industry events throughout the world, including at Arizona State, Boston College, Columbia, Stanford, and the Universities of Helsinki, Manitoba, and Macau, as well as at the American Gaming Association, Global Gaming Expo, Indian Gaming Association, and the Casino esports Conference and many more. They have been quoted or featured in such media outlets as the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Boston Globe, Las Vegas Weekly, New Republic, NPR’s Marketplace, Washington Post, Indian Country Today, Tribal Business News, and the New York Times.