Nevada is Ready for Online Casinos

[Eyeofngt]

Straight from the Las Vegas Gaming Wire.

LAS VEGAS, Nevada –- Nevada, where declining gaming and sales tax collections have ravaged the biennial budget, could benefit financially if a bill to legalize Internet gambling in the United States is approved by Congress.

The potential, however, rests on a big IF.

A House of Representatives resolution was introduced in May that would establish a framework to permit licensed online gambling operators to accept wagers from inside the United States.

Legal experts said Nevada has the statutory structure in place to investigate and license online gaming companies. Also, Nevada could become the premier American jurisdiction for hosting Internet casinos.

If the sites were to operate from Nevada, gaming regulators said the online businesses would have to pay upfront fees. Also, the online casinos would be taxed at the same rate as Strip casinos, now 6.75 percent on gaming revenues.

Again, a big IF because the keys to the whole deal rest with the 111th Congress some 2,500 miles to the east in Washington, D.C.

Federal lawmakers have focused attention on health care reform, the nation's economic crisis and other matters, setting aside issues such as Internet gambling.

"(Debate on the bill) probably won't happen this year," said former Sen. Richard Bryan, an attorney with Lionel Sawyer & Collins, who spent 12 years representing Nevada in the U.S. Senate as a Democrat.

"My sense, however, is that there is a gathering, gradual momentum where, eventually, Internet gaming will occur and be regulated," Bryan said. "I'm just not sure if it has reached critical mass yet."

Lack of action hasn't stopped interest in the subject.

Bryan and fellow Lionel Sawyer & Collins attorney Greg Gemignani said the firm has been approached by potential clients who want to set up Internet gambling businesses in Nevada should the activity be legalized.

Nevada lawmakers enacted the process to license Internet gaming in 2001 but the state's effort went dormant a year later when there wasn't any action on the federal level.

If Internet gaming is legalized under the current bill in Congress, Nevada could be chosen by the Department of Treasury to determine whether an applicant is suitable for federal gaming licensing.

[VegasLuvsMe]

That's a good deal if you ask me. When I don't have the money to travel to Vegas, the next best thing is to play their slot games online.

I guess our smart Government doesn't see the potential profit in the taxing of online gaming yet.

Or perhaps they're just waiting for all the Las Vegas casinos to get their gaming software ready and updated before they make it leagal in the U.S.

That seems like the theoretical answer to me.

Once the U.S. gaming software is ready and tested, by the Government of course (using our tax dollars for their fun), then they will leagalize it.

And then us USA online gamers can finally go on about our normal lives again, like it was before online gaming was mystically mucked up from the "illeagal" UIGEA bill.

[vegasrocks]

Imagine the money to be made by the casinos and the government if only it were legal. Imagine the billions they have already missed out on because they refuse to change the law.

I do also believe that it will get changed, its just a matter of when.

[VegasLuvsMe]

I think I mentioned the when already, if I'm right, when all the participating casinos get their gaming software ready to launch.

I know it's just a guess, but it does take a while to get a software made so all the games can be made to work in an online format.

And I think this is what the government is waiting for.
This doesn't seem like a people's choice anymore.
It's about the big companies and our leaders deciding what should happen.