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Since the beginning of the year, Nevada gaming regulators have approved dozens of updates to regulations and even eliminated some outdated rules as they continue to find ways to reduce the regulatory burden on the state’s largest industry.
The Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) will continue that process on July 25 when the five-member panel considers amendments to regulations governing the cybersecurity reporting processes and the surrendering of a gaming license or the temporary closing of a casino or other licensed establishment.
Rescinding Wagers
Not on next month’s agenda are proposed amendments to Regulation 22 that oversee the operations of race and sports books in Nevada. The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) considered the amendments at a workshop on May 23 but sent the proposals back to staff for additional conversations with the industry.
Those amendments were expected to be on the control board’s July agenda.
The amendments to Regulation 22 established reporting requirements for when a race or sports book accepts a wager on a sporting event whose outcome has already been determined.
Regulators also want to clarify when approval from the NGCB chair is necessary to rescind a wager if such a move is covered by a sportbook’s house rules.
“In reviewing the transcript when the NGC adopted this section in 1989, it was clear that this was always the intent. Including the proposed change will ensure that all licensees are aware of such intent,” said John Michela, senior deputy attorney general with the Nevada Attorney General’s Office.
According to Regulation 22.150, sportsbooks are not allowed to impose any unreasonable rules regarding rescinding of wagers as the control board chair is required to approve when an operator adopts or amends its house rules.
Marc Rubinstein, a partner with Reid, Rubinstein & Bogatz who represents Red Rock Resorts and Station Casinos, said the casino operator welcomed the intent of the regulatory change but had some concerns with the language as drafted and the burden it would put on a licensee.
“We don’t want to run away entirely from having a burden, but we want it to be something that we can fulfill,” Rubinstein said.
Among the latest regulatory reform proposals expected to be adopted by the Nevada Gaming Commission next month is a revised draft of amendments to Regulation 9.010 that implements two new reporting requirements for when a licensee ceases operations, including notifying the board immediately of any closure.
Requiring immediate notification is necessary because the control board may have to take certain actions, such as a closure audit of the business. The amendments keep the ten-day requirement to surrender a license to the control board.
Other changes include notifying the NGCB immediately should all “gambling games,” such as slot machines, be shut down by a licensee. If that closure exceeds 30 days, a licensee will have ten days after the expiration to surrender its license to the NGCB unless the chair has authorized a longer closure.
“Any licensee’s failure to comply with the requirements … shall constitute an unsuitable method of operation and be grounds to disciplinary action,” according to the four-pages of amendments to Regulation 9.010.
Another proposed change has been described by regulators as a “housekeeping update” to remove the initial compliance date and give a new licensee 90-days to comply with a requirement to perform a risk assessment of their operations and develop cybersecurity best practices.
When an earlier amendment to Regulation 5 was approved in December 2022 it gave some 400 non-restricted gaming licensees in Nevada until December 31, 2023 to perform a risk assessment. Those non-restricted licensees include land-based casinos, as well as race and sportsbooks.
“Now new licensees are already aware of the rule before they apply,” said Ed Magaw, deputy attorney general with the state attorney general’s office. “So, it was felt that a 90-day window would be sufficient to bring them into compliance.”
'Black Book' Regulatory Changes
Since the control board established its List of Excluded Persons, more commonly known as s the "Black Book", in 1960, Regulation 28 has been updated four times. The latest pending revision will remove the list of reports that can be used to provide background on any criminal activity.
Nevada regulators argue that the list of eight agencies, including the President’s Commission on Organized Crime and the Chicago Crime Commission, might be outdated and is unnecessary because the statute’s general language includes any report that is generated by a local or national agency.
Control board staff also intend to clarify the process that the three-member NGCB follows when determining whether or not to nominate a person to be placed in the Black Book.
In April, Neal Ahmed Hearne became the 37th person to be banned for life from setting foot inside a Nevada casino after grabbling thousands of dollars in casino chips from table games at 15 different casinos.
Over the years, the list has included mobsters, casino cheats and fraudsters.
But inclusion on the list does not prohibit persons from entering or gambling at restricted gaming locations in Nevada. A restricted gaming license restricts a business to no more than 15 slot machines, incidental to the primary business at the establishment.
At one time, inclusion on the list meant a ban on entering bus stations and airports in Nevada, which were considered slots-only locations. In 1981, the commission approved an amendment removing the total ban after a court ruled it violated the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
The travel right entails privacy and free domestic movement without government abridgement. So a person on the list today could play slot machines at Harry Reid International Airport or any restricted location such as a gas station, supermarket, bar, or convenience store in Nevada.
