Nevada was once known to be the gambling hub of the world and the casinos in Las Vegas drew gamblers like moths to a flame. While Nevada still has a thriving gambling industry, it lost its number one status to Macau, China and has experienced a decline in gambling revenue during the last 12 months.
Not only has Nevada’s live casino industry experienced a decline but the online gambling industry in Nevada which was legalized just over 12 months ago has also failed to meet initial expectations.
State gambling regulators are looking for innovative ways to revive the gambling industry in Nevada and ensure that gambling revenues do not plummet.
However, a new Nevada State Bill 40 might hinder this process as the bill has created a number of serious concerns for the poker community in Nevada. Many poker players are under the impression that if the bill is passed and turned into a state law, then live poker and online poker staking will get seriously affected.
On the 20th of December 2014, the Nevada State Bill 40 was pre-filed and then made public on the 23rd of Jan 2015. This week, David Gzech an internet gaming attorney posted on the popular TwoPlusTwo that
the bill would prohibit [and] criminalize player-to-player staking for brick-and-mortar poker tournaments, among other activities in Nevada
This caused a lot of unrest within the Nevada poker community as they were unsure how the bill would affect them and if they should actually protest the bill. The Nevada State Bill 40 was designed to curb sports betting and impose penalties on sports betting but due to the lack of clarity poker players believed that this bill could also hinder their poker game when it came to staking.
Poker staking at huge events like the World Series of Poker (WSOP) is a common occurrence in Las Vegas and the new bill could end up classifying it as a category B felony. If convicted of a category B felony, the individual will have to pay a heavy penalty, could serve a prison sentence between 1 to 6 years or pay a fine up to $5,000.
AG Burnett, the Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman released a statement to clarify the nature of the bill and to reassure poker players in Nevada that it wasn’t targeting them. In a statement, Burnett said
I’ve seen a couple articles on the Board’s bill regarding certain types of wagers. Just to clarify, this isn’t a poker bill. It is solely related to sports betting only.
