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Gaming Regulator: Las Vegas Online Casino Proposals Troublesome

LAS VEGAS, Nevada – Dec. 31, 2001 –A top Nevada gaming regulator said Monday that he is concerned that a proposed City of Las Vegas-affiliated offshore Web casino has the potential to give the state a black eye.

The City Council is slated Wednesday to consider whether Las Vegas ought to allow an offshore Web casino to use the city's name and seal in exchange for a fee or a share of the site's profits.

It remains unclear how much money an affiliation with a Web casino would generate for the city, or whether the city's involvement would extend beyond licensing use of its name and seal.

Wednesday's consideration of the idea forwarded by Mayor Oscar Goodman resurrects an idea he first championed a little over a year ago.

A proposal by vegasone.com to operate an offshore e-casino using the city's name and seal, with a possibility the site would be regulated by the city, died after Goodman recused himself because of a perceived conflict of interest.

Dennis Neilander, the chairman of Nevada's Gaming Control Board, said a city-affiliated or regulated offshore casino could possibly reflect poorly on Nevada.

"With Internet gaming you run the risk of having a scandal occur," Neilander explained. "It's unclear if the technology exists to keep children from wagering on the sites and to prevent people from playing on the sites if they are in places where Internet gambling is illegal."

A site affiliated with the City of Las Vegas that allowed children to gamble, for example, would give Las Vegas, and by extension, Nevada, a bad name, Neilander said.

"That causes me some concern," he said. Neilander said he was unsure if Nevada law would allow Las Vegas to regulate a city-affiliated Web casino.

"(Gaming) regulation is reserved to the state except for some local zoning decisions," he said. "But the statutes say that applies to 'gaming in Nevada,' and I don't know if that would cover an Internet site that doesn't take any bets from Nevada."

Goodman was unavailable for comment Monday, but Las Vegas Communications Director David Riggleman said the Mayor wants to gauge the interest of the other six council members before deciding whether the city should solicit bids from offshore casinos interested in paying Las Vegas to use the city's name and seal.

"The Mayor wants to make sure that an Internet casino site is beyond reproach before he'd want the city to affiliate with it," Riggleman said.

Nevada Gaming Commission Chairman Pete Bernhard declined Monday to comment on Goodman's proposal.

"I haven't given it a lot of thought," Bernhard said.

The Las Vegas City Council meets at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday in council chambers, at 400 Stewart Ave.

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