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Private Gambling Regulations Pass Another Hurdle

CARSON CITY, Nevada – Dec. 6, 2001 -- Regulations clearing the way for casinos to offer private gambling to security-minded wealthy bettors were unanimously recommended for approval Wednesday by the Gaming Control Board after members agreed to a few minor changes.

The unanimous support of the regulations will allow the Gaming Commission to review and adopt them as early as January.

Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said once the regulations take effect, applications from Nevada casinos to offer salon gaming could be processed. Depending on when the Gaming Commission gives final approval to the regulations, the private salons, which will be open only to gamblers with a $1 million line of credit or cash deposit or combination of both, could be doing business by the summer if not earlier, he said.

The 2001 Legislature enacted a law permitting casinos to set up gaming salons so high-end players could gamble in private. Supporters of the measure said many of these players will not gamble in Nevada because of a state law that says such high stakes gambling has to occur in public areas.

The Legislature allowed the creation of the private salons to lure these international players.

The regulations say that a player approved to gamble in a salon must bet a minimum of $500 a hand on table games or slot machines. The regulations allow as many as six other people associated with the high roller to gamble as well. High-rollers' guests who are not gambling would also be allowed in the salon, which would be closed off to all other players.

The minimum bets had originally been set at $20,000 per hand, but were reduced at the request of industry officials.

Las Vegas attorney Jack Godfrey, representing the Nevada Resort Association, questioned some of the proposed regulations at the Wednesday hearing, arguing that a $500,000 line of credit or cash deposit would be preferable to the $1 million recommendation.

The association had originally recommended $50,000.

"The $500,000 threshold would be very substantial," Godfrey said.

But board member Bobby Siller said the $1 million requirement was based on a survey of high-end players that already gamble in Nevada casinos. The survey showed the average wager to run from $60,000 to $140,000, with the line of credit or cash deposit levels running from a high of $5 million to a low of $1.6 million, he said.

"I think we were more than accommodating and flexible based on statistics, not just a general survey, based on statistics of people who were actually wagering in the high action category," Siller said. "A $1 million line of credit, whether up-front money or a combination of both, seemed extremely reasonable."

The regulations also spell out the tight security that will be required for a casino to operate a salon.

Gaming regulators will need to be notified before a salon is opened for patron play. A log will also have to be maintained for play for each player and a video recording of the salon area must also be taken and kept for at least 90 days. Only restrooms are exempt from the video requirement.

Siller said the regulations as recommended by the board take the best interests of the state and gaming industries into account.

"It was never our personal interests, we were always looking at how the state could benefit from this, how gaming revenue could be increased," he said.

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