The percentage of small firms offering coverage has been dropping steadily since 1999. The NAIC also is responsible for creating the statutory accounting principles upon which insurance accounting is based. The NAIC is not a regulator; while its members are the insurance commissioners (i.e., the chief insurance regulators) of each state and territory, the NAIC is a non-governmental organization that concerns itself with insurance regulatory matters but does not actually regulate. And for decades thereafter, even as casinos low-rolled their way into the mainstream, gambling itself retained an air of disrepute (charming though it could be) that tended to keep decent folks away