Mobile Gaming In Nevada - Bill AB471
Published: Friday, June 10, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
MOBILE GAMING IN NEVADA
Following up on Bill AB471
In last week's Online-Casinos.com and InfoPowa round-up we reported the passing of legislation allowing Nevada gamblers to play poker, roulette or slots from within casino grounds, and
there is now more information available on this significant development for further
comment.
Governor Kenny Guinn has signed off on the legislation, and regulators will have
to make some judgments on mobile gaming safeguards as they prepare operating rules.
The board and the Nevada Gaming Commission will draft regulations on mobile gaming
before wireless devices can be used to play in local casinos.
AB 471 was initiated by Cantor G&W (Nevada) LP, an affiliate of Cantor Fitzgerald
LP, the New York-based financial services company that claims that an adaptation
of its interactive bond-trading technology will work for casino gambling.
Cantor representatives produced a highly professional proposal months in advance
of the 2005 Legislature, and the result was a measure that addressed every issue
and was opposed by only one of the state's 63 legislators.
Former state Gaming Control Board Chairman Steve DuCharme is quoted by the media
as saying that the issues that will confront regulators aren't new -- they're
just updated versions of existing issues, advanced by new technology.
"I'm sure they'll be looking at how you restrict the area where it's used,"
said DuCharme, who served as chairman from 1998 to 2000 after two four-year terms
as a member. "How do you prevent minors from using it? How do you protect
the system from hackers?"
DuCharme said regulators would likely look at the role of adult responsibility
on some of the issues. "At some point, society has to rely on adult responsibility,"
he said. "There are people over the age of 21 who purchase alcohol for minors
and there are parents who allow their children to gamble by telling them to put
the coin in the machine and pull the handle."
Proponents of the devices say the remote gambling option, in public locations
at resorts and not in hotel rooms or other private areas, would help Nevada casinos
stay competitive despite the expansion of Indian casinos, Internet betting and
of resorts elsewhere in the country and around the world.
"It's a reflection of changing technology and the ability to do things differently
than in the past," said Bill Bible, head of the Nevada Resort Association.
"It clearly behooves Nevada to keep abreast of the times and maintain its
advantage over other states."
It will take several months for adoption of rules implementing AB471, and Bible
said casino regulators will have to be assured there's no potential for problems.
Once they're authorised, Bible said there's still another test: "How will
it be accepted, whether people would rather gamble on a PDA (personal digital
assistant) at poolside or whether they'd rather be in the casino enjoying some
of the casino excitement."
Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial
Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno, raises another concern: whether the
advantage of offering casino customers a convenient way to gamble nonstop is offset
by the possibility that the technology could someday make it outside casino walls.
"Then there may be some concern with the industry that there could be a competing
product," he said, adding that the proposal "brings up the philosophical
question of where should gambling take place."
Joe Asher, managing director of Cantor G&W, said his firm is focused on use
of the devices within and not outside casinos. He heralded the action that puts
Nevada on the way to apparently becoming the first state to allow wireless gambling.
"People have become more and more comfortable with technology," Asher
said. "An entire generation or two have grown up with video games or mobile
devices, and they are in our view likely to appreciate the ability to play without
being restricted to the physical confines of the gaming area in the casino."
Asher revealed that the Cantor device uses encryption to ensure security. He also
said a biometric system, that reads a permitted user's fingerprint, could be used
if that's what regulators want.
Under terms of the measure, the devices could only be used in the public areas
of casinos that have 100 or more slot machines and offer at least one other game.
They would be barred from hotel rooms or any other private areas.
State Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said it could take several
months to a year for the board and its parent, the state Gaming Commission, to
come up with the regulations that will govern the use of the devices.
Bible, a former GCB chairman, said the concept may be new but the ability to control
such gambling is strong. The wireless devices would be linked to a main casino
server that could verify that the gambler is the person who checked out one of
the devices at a casino.
Asher told legislators that the devices could be set to stop working in nonauthorized
areas, and players could establish limits in advance by depositing money on account.
