Playaway Flourishes In Nevada
Published: Thursday, April 27, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
PLAYAWAY FLOURISHES IN NEVADA
No Foxwoods hassles here
The Nevada Appeal News reported on closer convergance between (illegal in Nevada) online gambling and playing games for reward using the Internet this week in a story on the PlayAway concept.
This caused grief for Foxwoods earlier this year (see previous InfoPowa reports) when the huge land casino got into a wrassle with the local law over the concept, but apparently in Northern Nevada it's no problemo.
The story reports that Carson City residents who prefer to gamble on a PC no longer have to do business with an off-shore company.
But it's not really online gambling; it just seems that way. Northern Nevada land casinos are targeting the substantial group of players who like to spend leisure time at land casinos, then go home and continue gambling in front of the computer screen.
The Department of Justice advised the Nevada Gaming Commission in 2002 that the federal Wire Act prohibits Internet gaming. The law doesn't criminalise the online player, just the site that has the product. But, as one gaming control board member said, it's hard to prosecute an online company in the Caribbean.
Nevada's substitute for online gambling is called PlayAway, and it's catching on. In February this year, Casino Fandango was one of the first casinos in the state to roll out the system.
It works like this: Players go to land casino Fandango's keno desk and purchase PlayAway tickets in fixed denominations. They go home and log on to play the games. The player returns to the casino to pick up any earnings. Sound like Internet gambling?
"You've already won or lost before you turn on the computer," said Mark Clayton, a member of the gaming control board. He said Internet gaming is different because the player wins or loses based on how he or she plays online. "It was determined by the gaming-control board that this system did not determine the game outcome, and merely was a method to reveal the results of a game outcome determined at the licensee," Clayton said.
"We're seeing more and more folks playing on it," said Chris Plummer, marketing analyst for the casino.
"Customers are really playing keno, but it doesn't feel like it," said John Taylor, president of GameLogic, the company that developed PlayAway. He calls it virtual play. "You have bought a multi-race keno ticket, What you're doing on Internet is merely revealing the results of the outcome of the keno races," he said.
Taylor said his company is providing its casino customers with new ways of using the Internet, something players want to use, but regulated casinos are prevented from using because of federal laws.
Six casinos in Northern Nevada are using the PlayAway system. It is set to roll out in casinos in Southern Nevada, New Jersey and Mississippi. The company even has a version for tribal casinos.
