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.

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.”

By June 30, 2020 apps within the Apple App Store that use HTML 5 must be in full compliance with Sections 4, 5, and 6 of Guideline 4.7 of the Apple App Store Review Guidelines. The first extension of the September 2019 deadline was extended to March 2020 and Apple’s second extension is extended to the end of June 2020. Some online gambling apps have already begun to comply with the guidelines.

Washington state legislators have introduced legislation that would amend the definition of “illegal gambling games” in current laws to exclude most video games which would prevent further litigation against game companies.

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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The post New Hampshire Sports Betting Legislation Approved appeared first on The Commercial Gaming Blog.

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...

Josh Hawley, a United States Senator from Missouri, recently announced plans to introduce a bill titled “The Protecting Children from Abusive Games Act.” The bill would, in essence, make it illegal for games “played by minors” to include loot boxes or pay-to-win microtransactions. How exactly the bill would achieve this is unclear as there is...

The Quinault Indian Nation has filed a lawsuit against Valve Corporation in the State of Washington alleging the popular game developer engages in unregulated and unlicensed online gambling. The complaint, filed on April 3, 2019, claims the introduction of the loot box system in CS:GO “was a deliberate attempt . . . to increase its...

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...