In Business Las Vegas, November 16th, 2007
State gaming regulators will organize a series of workshops early next year to draft regulations that would enable pari-mutuel wagering on poker and billiard tournaments.
Dennis
Neilander, chairman
of the state Gaming Control Board, and
Peter
Bernhard, chairman
of the Nevada Gaming Commission, explained the plan while on a regulatory panel that was part of the State Bar of Nevada's Gaming Law Conference on Nov. 7.
Neilander
said the Gaming Commission would take the first step toward developing a calendar at a meeting later this year. Workshop meetings to be attended by representatives of the industry will be scheduled in January and February and hearings on a draft regulation could occur in March and April.
Under the format envisioned by the regulators, bettors could make wagers on pools of players participating in events like Harrah's Entertainment's World Series of Poker.
Neilander
said other regulations could be tweaked in the review process.
Regulators may revisit regulations involving private gaming salons and change minimum wager amounts and creditworthiness standards so that
Las Vegas
salons could stay competitive with similar operations overseas. The state currently requires a minimum bet of $500 in the salons and a minimum of $500,000 in credit.
Those levels could be changed so that
Nevada
casinos could be more competitive with operations in
Macau
.
Neilander
said regulators also will look at streamlining key employee application filings and consolidate applications on corporations. In addition, the board and commission will review regulations on removing names from the state's "gray list" of denied applicants and on the so-called "kiddie slot" issue involving slot machine games that have themes that could appeal to children.
Neilander
also said the two boards would look at regulations that ban the use of cellular telephones in race and sports books.
In addition to listing regulations to be reviewed,
Neilander
summarized for attorneys new gaming legislation approved in the last legislative session.
Here are some of the things new legislation will do:
- Expand the definition of a "gaming employee" to include persons who register representatives to casinos.
- Establish a procedure for eliminating names from the state's list of denied applicants. The Gaming Control Board processed its first request under that legislation at its November meeting.
- Include free-play tournaments, drawings and contests among the matters that can be resolved by regulators in casino-patron disputes.
- Add cashless gaming vouchers to the list of items covered under counterfeiting legislation.
- Extend $2.4 million toward problem gambling treatment.
- Change the term of office for new board members to begin the last Monday in January to prevent conflicts between incoming and outgoing governors appointing new members. The scenario occurred in
Gov.
Jim
Gibbons
' selection of board member
Randall
Sayre
earlier this year.
In a session on gaming compliance committees, panelists discussed the roles of these independent boards which review business relationships, hirings and agreements with other companies and organizations.
A.G.
Burnett, deputy chief
of the Corporate Securities Division of the state Gaming Control Board, said 62
Nevada
companies — 58 of them publicly traded — have compliance committees that advise their respective boards of directors on complying with
Nevada
gaming law when conducting business.
Compliance committees conduct the investigations and perform the due diligence on prospective partners, vendors and employees before the company finalizes its relationship.
Panelist
Mark
Clayton
, a member of the state Gaming Control Board, said regulators count on the efforts of compliance committees to help oversee corporate operations.
"The purpose is to have that review process,"
Clayton
said. "I may not agree with the conclusion reached, but as long as the process is in place, we can work with them."
Burnett
said there has never been an instance of a regulatory disciplinary action as a result of compliance committee findings. Committees are required to report on corporate malfeasance and breach of duties.
Attorney General
Catherine Cortez
Masto
in a keynote address said she is working with government leaders and attorneys general in other countries in a team effort to keep money laundering in check.
She said she recently met with Mexican authorities on technological advancements like facial recognition and other biometric software, radio frequency identification casino chips and non-obvious pattern recognition indicators to help deal with "a new kind of perpetrator."
"Regulators may revisit regulations involving private gaming salons and change minimum wager amounts and creditworthiness standards so that
Las Vegas
salons could stay competitive with similar operations overseas."
