Interactive Gambling Bill Clears Nevada Senate Committee
by Fred Faust, RGTonline.com
The Nevada bill to legalize interactive gambling moved another step closer to law late this morning when the state Senate Judiciary Committee passed the bill with only one dissenting vote. It now goes to the floor for consideration by the entire state Senate.
Today is the last day that bills can be passed out of committees and on to the Senate floor. The Senate must adjourn by June 4 and doesn’t meet again until 2003.
If the Senate passes the bill, AB 578, and it’s signed by Gov. Kenny Guinn, Nevada will become the first U.S. state to legalize Internet gambling.
The bill, however, is only enabling legislation. It authorizes the state’s regulatory bodies to determine whether online gambling can comply with “all applicable laws” and be properly regulated.
If the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the Gaming Commission decide that it can, they are authorized to create regulations and issue licenses to qualified Nevada casino-hotels that are already licensed for land-based gaming.
Both regulatory bodies will hold hearings on the legal and technical issues. It’s expected to take 18 to 24 months before any licenses for interactive gambling are issued.
Guinn, a Republican, has not announced a position on the issue. Anthony Cabot – a gaming lawyer at Lionel, Sawyer & Collins, Nevada’s most powerful law firm – said he expects the Senate to pass the bill and thinks Guinn will sign it.
Republicans and Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted for the bill today. The only negative vote was cast by Sen. Terry Care, a Democrat from Las Vegas.
Cabot and his firm have been working for the bill, which was originally introduced in the state Assembly by Merle Berman, a Republican from Las Vegas. After the committee vote today, he called it “a positive move.”
“We have an opportunity, at least in Nevada, to really take a hard look at all the various issues surrounding Internet gambling, and to take a lead in providing the quality of regulation that has been recognized worldwide for our land-based casinos,” Cabot told RGT Online.
At a hearing on AB 578 last week, some Senators asked whether passage of this bill would lead to a confrontation with officials in Washington, D.C., who oppose Internet gambling. Cabot minimized that issue in his comments today.
“One of the things that Nevada will always try to do is to respect the sovereignty of the various states,” Cabot said. “I am certain that Nevada will not be careless in assuring that bets are not taken from states where it’s unlawful for those people to be placing such wagers.
“I think that goes a long way towards meeting the concerns of Sen. Kyl and others who are concerned about the proliferation of this type of wagering. It really does not change the environment at all.”
Kyl, a Republican from Arizona, has said he will re-introduce his bill that would establish a federal law specifically banning Internet gambling. An earlier version of Kyl’s bill passed the U.S. Senate in November 1999, but was defeated in the House of Representatives last summer.
“No other state specifically authorizes Internet gambling on casino-type games,” Cabot noted.
- May 21, 2001 |
