Lewis Roca Blog

Retaining a Grandfathered Gaming Location in Nevada | We have all heard the phrase location, location, location. In the context of gaming in Nevada, grandfathered locations refer to casinos or gaming establishments that have been allowed to continue operations under previous laws or regulations, even after new laws or restrictions were put in place. These locations often enjoy certain privileges that newer establishments do not.

Earlier this week, the Nevada Gaming Control Board (“Board”) released a notice to licensees encouraging the introduction and use of new and innovative technology into the gaming industry in Nevada. To achieve this objective, the Board released guidelines to expedite the evaluation of gaming technology, effective July 1, 2024. The guidelines do not modify or amend any regulation adopted by the Nevada Gaming Commission (“NGC”), rather they are meant to incorporate the processes the Board intends to follow within the existing parameters of the NGC regulations.

In early March 2024, the Nevada Gaming Control Board (“Board”) voted unanimously in favor of a series of proposed amendments to Gaming Regulation 5, specifically as it pertains to registered hosting centers and service providers (in particular, cloud computing service providers). These regulations were recently considered for final approval by the Nevada Gaming Commission (“Commission”) at its May 16^th meeting.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board will hold a workshop on May 23, 2024, to solicit comments on proposed amendments to Nevada Gaming Commission Regulations regarding, without limitation, Regulations 5, 7A, 8, 9, 14, 16, 22, and 28.

The Nevada Gaming Commission (“Commission”) recently amended Commission Regulation 5 to (i) allow hosting centers located outside of Nevada to house Nevada-regulated gaming equipment provided they register with the Gaming Control Board (“Board”) and satisfy certain additional criteria; and (ii) expand the scope of Nevada-regulated gaming equipment that may be housed at hosting centers.

On Thursday, November 19th, 2021, the Gaming Control Board (“Board”) held a public workshop to discuss possible amendments to the Nevada Gaming Commission regulations regarding remote registration for wagering accounts used for other than sports, nonpartimutuel race, or “other event” wagering.

On January 20, 2021, U.S. Circuit Court Judge Kayatta for the First Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 49- page ruling upholding the U.S. District Court’s ruling rejecting the 2018 Wire Act interpretation that The Wire Act applies to all forms of gambling rather than only sports betting.

Prize-linked savings (PLS) accounts are a new and exciting way for banking customers to experience the thrill of a lottery while personally funding their savings account. PLS accounts add a lottery-style feature to certain savings accounts where financial institutions offer incentives to its customers to win prizes. These prizes are funded by the interest that accrues from the pool of prize-linked accounts.

The complaint claims that Apple profits from games with loot boxes by marketing the games to children, acting as an agent for the game developers, and managing the monetary transactions. Apple does not explicitly provide notice that a loot box game feature exists and instead provides disclosures of “Offers In-App Purchases.”

Big Fish Casino is a social gaming application that provides “freemium” online casino games. Similar to many other providers, users are awarded free chips when they create their account and may obtain additional chips by winning games, via free chip replenishment, or by purchasing additional chips. Big Fish Games was owned by Churchill Downs Incorporated and subsequently sold to Aristocrat Leisure Limited earlier this year.

Following Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak’s March 17, 2020 directive to close all non-essential businesses, Nevada gaming establishments ceased operations and sent all employees home. This article seeks to provide Nevada gaming establishments with several topics to consider when crafting policies and protocols for bringing employees back into the workplace during the ongoing pandemic.

On April 24, 2020, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) issued revised and updated guidelines to allow certain gaming businesses to benefit from the new Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) created under Title II of the CARES Act. This is a reversal of the SBA’s longstanding regulations that made most gaming businesses ineligible for any SBA loans.

A discussion regarding remote registration for Nevada sports books has been raised recently with sports betting commentators having arguments for both innovation and keeping the status quo. On the one hand, the argument is that given the numerous casinos in Las Vegas, it is not difficult to register for a sports wagering account in-person. The …

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Entertainment Software Association (ESA)’s Chief Counsel of Tech Policy, Michael Warnecke, announced at a recent Federal Trade Commission workshop examining loot boxes,[1] that the video game industry will require disclosure of the odds of winning in-game items from paid loot boxes. Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony Interactive Entertainment have agreed to new platform policies with regard …

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The governor of New Hampshire signed sports betting legislation, HB 480, on July 12, 2019. The new law authorizes sports betting at retail locations and mobile wagering while located within the geographic boundaries of the state. If you would like to discuss this recent legislation, please contact authors Karl Rutledge at krutledge@lrrc.com, Glenn Light at …

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On June 3, 2019, U.S. District Court Judge Paul Barbadoro issued a 60-page ruling rejecting the 2018 Wire Act Interpretation that stated the Wire Act applied to all forms of gambling rather than only sports betting. As mentioned in our prior blogs, this case was brought in New Hampshire by the New Hampshire Lottery Commission...

Language for the “The Protecting Children from Abusive Games Act” was introduced on May 23, 2019 by Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), along with Senators Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). This bill purports to ban the exploitation of children through “pay-to-win” and “loot box” monetization practices by the video game industry. The rules would …

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New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal filed suit on May 7, 2019 against the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”) for its failure to respond to a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request filed on February 5, 2019. The request sought documents relating to Sheldon Adelson’s lobbying efforts regarding the recent DOJ interpretation of the …

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Last week the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) refused to rule out future prosecution of state lotteries and their employees and vendors under the 1961 Wire Act. “The potential Wire Act liability of state agencies, employees, and vendors involves the evaluation of numerous complicated and important issues, and the department intends to give these issues …

Continue reading "New Hampshire Lottery Commission and NeoPollard Interactive Respond to DOJ’s Refusal to Determine Wire Act Applicability to State Lotteries as Requested by the Court"

The post New Hampshire Lottery Commission and NeoPollard Interactive Respond to DOJ’s Refusal to Determine Wire Act Applicability to State Lotteries as Requested by the Court appeared first on The Commercial Gaming Blog.

We are honored to have our Gaming and Licensing practice recognized by Chambers USA 2019, and for Karl Rutledge being recognized in the USA – Nationwide category. We are excited to announce that 25 attorneys and 10 practice areas of our firm, Lewis Roca Rothgerber Christie, have been recognized by Chambers USA 2019, one of the most …

On January 19, 2018, Maryland House Bill 283 was introduced by Republican Delegate Robin Grammer. The bill exempts competitive video games, known as eSports, from the state’s laws banning wagering and gambling. “eSports” is defined as video games such as first-person shooters, real-time strategy games, and multiplayer online battle arenas in which: players compete against...