Now that the dust has settled on the 2015 Nevada legislative session, we find the gaming landscape has been altered in some pretty interesting ways. There are a few bills that will allow Nevada gaming licensees to explore a diverse new world of gaming technologies and offerings, other bills that serve to extend the reach of Nevada’s gaming regulators to new entities and activities, and yet others that clarify administrative issues and procedures.

Exploring New Worlds of Gaming: SB9, SB443 and SB445

SB9

This bill gives Nevada’s gaming regulators a policy directive and enhanced rulemaking authority to develop technical standards for “hybrid” games – games that are a blend of skill and chance, where the outcome will be determined by both as well as external factors including frequency of play, use of other casino services, and use in combination with other technologies. The idea is to ensure Nevada’s leadership in the next generation of gaming, and to attract a new generation of customers who relate to electronic skill-based game play and would be drawn to features such as bonus rounds that reward the skill of a player, integration of the games with their social media accounts, interactive networked game play, and the use of electronic commerce transactions. The first public regulation workshop on SB9 was already held by the Nevada Gaming Control Board (the “Board”) on June 24, 2015, with the next to be held sometime this summer.

SB443

Senate Bill 443 is the “entity wagering” bill. It allows the formation of business entities to place race and sports pool wagers, where out-of-state investors can join business entities and share the profits and losses from wagers at Nevada gambling establishments.

SB445

Senate Bill 445 permits licensed race and sports book operators to provide centralized management to race and sports book operations in Nevada and other jurisdictions where such bets are legal.

This is the first in a series of blog posts addressing the 2015 Nevada legislative session.