There have been several key landmark legal events since that first regulation of gambling in 1931. Some of the most crucial are as follows:
1931 – Coming at a time when wagering was much proscribed, a bill known as the Broad Open Betting Bill was passed into law by the then Nevada Governor, Fred Balzar. A by-product of the Great Depression, this law effectively granted the counties the leeway to issue licences to betting firms and collect revenue from the said firms. This law was the precursor to the now world-renown Las Vegas Strip.
1949 – This year saw the assent into law, of a bill that allowed Horse racing and pro sports betting. This regulation eventually led to the creation of Turf Clubs. Later on, these were replaced by sportsbooks at most of the casinos.
1955 – The Nevada Betting Control Board came to be as a reaction to the increased and unwelcome control of betting by the Mob. The Board’s main task was to get rid of the mob and take charge of the issuance of gaming licenses, collection of revenues, and taxation of gambling firms- a role it continues to play to date.
The Board’s legal position was cemented four years later in 1969 when the state senate passed an Act, which in turn established a Commission to resolve any disputes that would arise in the execution of the Board’s mandate. The Board had five members, who served for a non-renewable 4-year-term. The Board was further bolstered by yet another law passed in 1961, which provided for an11 member oversight Committee.
1974 – Sports gambling received a tax reprieve, and the state now taxed it at 2%. This reprieve encouraged the evolution of top casinos into more deluxe sportsbooks, spotting even more elaborate and luxuriously appointed interior decor.
1975 – The era of Turf Clubs drew to a close, and the top casino resorts welcomed their first sportsbooks onboard. The pioneer in this regard was Stardust Casino.
1983 – This year saw an even more significant reduction in gambling tax, which now stood at 0.25%
2011 – Betting Control Bill was drafted, detailing the process of sanctioning of internet poker within the state
2013 – On 21st February 2013, the Betting Control Bill was assented into law by Governor Bill Sandoval. The first online poker sites were introduced in the fall that same year. These were Ultimate Poker and WSOP.com poker. The latter is the poker site for the mammoth Caesars casino franchise. The 888 poker platform is the site upon which they built it.
2014 – Nevada and Delaware sealed a bilateral deal in which they created an oversight Committee. The Committee was comprised of various state actors and envisioned the prospective inclusion of even more member states in due course.
Nevada reaped greatly from the fact that it was one of the states exempted from the application of the Professional and Amateur Sports Provision Act (PASPA) of 1992 (the other states so exempted were Montana, Delaware and Oregon). This exemption meant that by the time the PASPA was repealed in 2018 by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS), Nevada’s gambling establishments had already gained traction. As the rest of the states now try their hand at gambling regulation, Nevada is already an old hat in the game and catching up to her will be an uphill task.
