Nevada (the Las Vegas state) has just approved mobile gambling in hotel rooms, signalling a step towards online gambling (which is pretty much banned in The States)
Gambling in Tninsel Town is heading further from the casino floor following a decision by the Nevada Gaming Commission which approved an amendment to allow gaming in hotel rooms via mobile devices. Mobile gambling is allowed in public areas of casinos at the moment, places like the pool and restaurants (when do you eat in Vegas!!)……they´ll be giving you a egamer machine when you head into the cubicle in the loo next). Now you can gamble in rooms and parking lots (!).
Casino licensees who want to offer mobile casinos will need to show that they can stop minors from betting (eg with biometric ID). Cantor Gaming is the big gorilla in this area- it already offers mobile gambling at the Hard Rock, Tropicana and Cosmopolitan. It´ll be gloves off for the official start date on October 1.
The NGC also gave the thumbs up to sports betting kiosks in PT’s Pub locations.
Of course, this is not online gambling, but it is pretty close, and certainly gives the regulators the chance to analyse the impact this will have on the city´s revenues, and whether or not they can restrict young people from playing, which is always the big worry….we´ll see. It does seem odd that a State with so much gambling heritage still runs a ban on Internet gaming.
