Nevada’s Gaming Control Board is looking to expand gambling laws that would see bettors located outside of the state allowed to make sports bets with sportsbooks in Nevada.
The board had been looking at ways to increase the reach of the state’s gambling sector in the sports betting space. This comes as five other states now offer comprehensive sports betting options since the federal ban on sports betting was ended in May 2018.
Both the state government and the federal government will have to approve such a measure first.
Nevada was the exception to the former ban, being allowed to offer a full range of sports betting for many years. New Mexico has joined Nevada, West Virginia, Mississippi, Delaware and New Jersey as the states offering sports betting.
What changes are being considered?
Ten representatives of the gaming industry testified on potential amendments to four different regulations. One of these was Regulation 22, which covers sports pools and race books.
The board is considering altering the current regulation that stops sportsbooks and racebooks from accepting bets from outside of state lines. The proposed amendment would say: “unless such wagers are legal in the jurisdiction from which they originate and federal law allows such wagers… ”
It also proposes abolishing the requirement for new players to provide a full social security number at an interactive gaming account. Instead, they would only have to give the final four digits of their number. This would better help protect these people’s data.
A further proposal is the introduction of a requirement for sportsbooks to honor any winning tickets for 12 months. Currently, this period is only 30 days. Some sportsbooks have longer time periods for bet settlements.
Wynn Resorts, Casers Entertainment and MGM Resorts International representatives also called for rules that would allow a player to make a gaming account while being physically present in the casino. This is something that is now allowed in New Jersey as part of its new sports betting laws.
New Jersey now receives more revenue from sports bets made online than in the physical casinos. This motion would need to receive a majority vote by the board before it can be put in front of the Nevada Gaming Commission.
Another motion would see sportsbooks being allowed to offer further types of bets. The board’s chair would have the final say after an application has been made describing the given event, how it will be supervised and what sort of integrity protections will be implemented.
This could include entertainment types of wagers, such as who will win certain Oscars, for example. These types of bets are already allowed for sports awards such as league MVPs.
There will still be no allowance for betting on election results, however. While this is common in many other countries, it does not look like this will be implemented in Nevada any time soon.
Success of sports betting legalization
Since the end of the federal ban and the opening up of sportsbooks, numerous states have seen some solid success.
In September, New Jersey almost doubled its sports betting intake. It enjoyed an increase of $96m (£72.8m) in August up to $184m (£140m) in September. This is an increase of 92% and New Jersey is hoping to grow this even further.
New Jersey is aiming at Nevada to take them down from the top of the sportsbook rankings. In August, Nevada took $247m (£187m) in sports betting revenues. There is still some way to go before New Jersey catches up. The majority of the New Jersey revenues came from online gambling platforms. Currently, six of these offerings are available to New Jersey residents.
Mississippi managed to garner $10m (£7.6m) in sports betting revenues for August, and this came as it was just getting started with its offering. West Virginia managed about $5m (£3.8m) during August.
One reason for the significant increase in the revenues in New Jersey was attributed to the starting of the college and professional football seasons.
Trends point towards online sports betting becoming the go-to option for people, which is the main reason why Nevada is looking to expand its offerings. If people can get their fix from the comfort of their own homes, the likes of Las Vegas casinos will start to lose out on lucrative sportsbooks revenues.
While Nevada still has a significant presence in the market due to massive tourism levels and the holding of many sporting events, the state is looking over the backs of other states that are looking to take its place.
