Restricted Mobile Gaming In Nevada Difficult To Enforce
Published: Friday, June 03, 2005 Online-Casinos.com
RESTRICTED MOBILE GAMING IN NEVADA MAY BE DIFFICULT TO ENFORCE
Technology views on latest Nevada law proposal
The Las Vegas Sun carried a relevant and very interesting article on the latest
Nevada legislative moves to permit and regulate a form of mobile gambling that
will be restricted to the land operations in the state.
The article reports that Nevada is on the verge of passing a law that could
enable land casinos to offer mobile gaming, but technology experts have cautioned
that it will be tough for the state to control who plays and from where.
Mike Wood of the Natural Intelligence Group is quoted as saying in a panel discussion
at a gaming conference last week that wireless technology should increase play
in casinos (which is presumably why the land casinos want it), but regulators
may be challenged to set regulations for play because wireless data transmissions
will be difficult to control.
The panel was part of the two-day Gaming Technology Summit at Green Valley Ranch.
While about 200 delegates discussed casino technology issues, many Nevada professionals
were considering the implications of approving state legislation allowing regulators
to draft rules on mobile gaming.
Wood said it's difficult to control the boundaries of any wireless network.
"You may be able to establish a network to cover the pool area, but it
may extend beyond the pool to the parking lot," he said. Systems are being
developed to triangulate network locations and set boundaries, but they probably
don't offer the precision necessary to satisfy regulators, he said.
He added that many encryption systems he has seen are not secure. Another problem
regulators will face when drafting rules for the use of wireless devices is
to determine player qualification systems that can't be corrupted.
Asked whether a wireless system has been developed that could prevent underage
gamblers from playing, Wood concurred that there hasn't. But he also noted that
casinos already have safeguards preventing underage playing.
Wood and panelist Rob Lewis of Ameranth Wireless, San Diego, said some wireless
applications already are in use in casinos, but they don't tie in to game play.
Apparently the Mirage used wireless technology to issue credit to players and
the Venetian has used it to check in hotel guests.
Others use wireless technology to notify poker players that seats are available
in their rooms. Such a system is in place at the new Wynn Las Vegas resort.
Wood said poker rooms that have used the technology have reported that it has
increased business.
In a session on security, speaker Mark Rasch, senior vice president of Solutionary,
a security services provider based in The Woodlands, Texas, warned delegates
that their casinos are only as secure as the weakest link in their systems.
He discussed biometric identification systems, radio frequency identification
systems that include embedded transmitters in gaming chips, new wireless technologies
and player loyalty cards that help casinos collect information on their players.
Rasch said that a whole new level of security issues is on the horizon with
the arrival of wireless gaming systems and server-based technology.
"There's a lot of money that can be lost but the worst that can happen
is the loss of confidence in your customers," he said.
