Gaming Law in a Nutshell
Authors:
Champion, Jr, Walter T. / Rose, I. Nelson
Edition:
2nd
Copyright Date:
2018
32 chapters
have results for indian gaming
Chapter 17. Sports Books and Parimutuel Wagering 26 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”), , noted that “Indian tribes have the exclusive right to regulate gaming activity on Indian lands if the gaming activity is not specifically prohibited by Federal law and is conducted within a state which does not, as a matter of criminal law and public policy, prohibit such gaming activity.” At . IGRA established three classes of gaming, each with specific requirements and restrictions: Class I gaming is defined as “social games solely for prizes of minimal value or traditional forms of Indian gaming engaged in by individuals as a part of, or in connection with, tribal ceremonies or celebrations.” This type of gaming includes traditional “stick” or “bone” games, rodeos, and horseraces that are played as part of ceremonies, pow wows, and other celebrations. Class I gaming falls under the exclusive jurisdiction of the tribes and is unregulated by the federal government or any state.
- Class II gaming consists of bingo and other bingo-like games (if played in the same location as the bingo) and non-banking card games that are authorized either by state law or not explicitly prohibited by state law so long as they are conducted in conformity with state laws regarding hours of operation and limitations on wagers. IGRA states that a tribe may conduct Class II gaming if it is “located within a State that permits such gaming for any purpose by any person, organization or entity (and such gaming is not otherwise specifically prohibited on Indian lands by Federal law).” The governing body of the tribe wishing to conduct the Class II gaming must adopt an ordinance that is subsequently approved by the Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission (“NIGC”). Explicitly excluded from the Class II classification are card games banked by the casino (blackjack, baccarat, and other similar games) and electronic banking games of chance of any kind, including slot machines. It...
- The IGRA defines Class III gaming as any type of gaming that is not included in Class I or Class II. Parimutuel betting on dog and horse racing, straight- up sports bets as with Nevada sports books, lotteries, slot machines, house banking card games, and other common casino games all fall under the Class III distinction. Just as with Class II gaming, a tribe may operate Class III games if it adopts an ordinance approved by the NIC Chairman and if the state permits “such gaming for any purpose by any person, organization, or entity.” Unique to the area of Class III gaming is the requirement that the activities be “conducted in conformance with a Tribal-State compact entered into by the Indian tribe and the State.”
- Instituted in 1989, the Oregon game was based on selecting winning teams in NFL games, as adjusted by the point spread. There were also special bets on things like: total points by both teams, total sacks, total field goals, etc. As a state lottery, this game may be played only by purchasing tickets sold in Oregon. Moreover, the parimutuel nature of the game is not well-suited for gambling outside of a limited pool of bettors. A similar game is operated by the Delaware State Lottery in that state’s newly opened sports books.
- gaming sometimes complements illegal gambling, not replaces it. For one thing, open promotion of legal gambling tends to remove much of the taint from illegal games. As such, people who would not have gambled illegally might be encouraged to do so. Moreover, by setting lines and stating odds, the legal game may make it easier to operate illegal games. The legal game also provides an easy way for the illegal operator to “lay-off” (thereby insuring against heavy losses) on popular wagers.
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Appendix 35 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Indian tribes have the exclusive right to regulate gaming activity on Indian lands if the gaming activity is not specifically prohibited by Federal law and is conducted within a State which does not, as a matter of criminal law and public policy, prohibit such gaming activity.
- between the Indian lands of 2 or more Indian tribes to the extent that intertribal gaming is
- within the Indian lands of a single Indian tribe (as such terms are defined under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act); or
- numerous Indian tribes have become engaged in or have licensed gaming activities on Indian lands as a means of generating tribal governmental revenue;
- Notwithstanding paragraphs (1) and (2), for a restricted transaction that allegedly has been or will be initiated, received, or otherwise made on Indian lands (as that term is defined in section 4 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act)—
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Chapter 4. State Constitutions, State Laws, and Gaming 28 results (showing 5 best matches)
- For Indian tribes, the decision spurred grandiose plans for economic development on Indian reservations across the country, some of which have come true. After Public Law 280 authority over Indian tribes, had the theoretical power to prohibit Indian gaming altogether. But this would require the state outlawing all forms of gambling and making the prohibitions criminally enforceable. Such an action would render gaming a subject of state criminal-prohibitory law, rather than tribal-regulatory law. But any state authorization, even for low-limit charity games, meant that the state had merely a civil/regulatory attitude toward gambling. Thus, after the decision, Indian gaming was lawful only if the state allowed some form of gaming; tribes in Utah today cannot operate any form of gambling. State governments, however, were not willing to end all charitable gaming simply to stop Indian gaming. Congress worked out a political compromise in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which can be...
- Bingo was also the game most instrumental in the creation and expansion of Indian gaming. In one of the first important cases, , the Seminoles brought a declaratory judgment and injunction action concerning application of Florida bingo laws to operation of a bingo hall on the Indian reservation. The Court held that the statute permitting bingo games to be played by certain qualified organizations and subject to state restrictions is “civil/regulatory,” rather than “criminal/prohibitory,” and therefore, cannot be enforced against the tribe. States lack jurisdiction over Indian reservation activity until granted such authority by the tribe itself or by the federal government. Even if the restrictions on bingo are in the state penal code, that alone is not determinative of whether the restrictions are civil/regulatory or criminal/prohibitory. The test is whether the state has a public policy completely outlawing the particular gambling game, and the test cases are usually bingo. Act,...
- The basic principle of all Indian law is the principle that those powers which are lawfully vested in an Indian tribe are not, generally, delegated powers granted by express acts of Congress, but rather inherent powers of a limited sovereignty which has never been extinguished. This derives from cases from the 1830s. In the most important of the three cases, , John Marshall faced one of the most difficult tests as Chief Justice of the still fairly young U.S. Supreme Court. His landmark declaration that tribes are “domestic dependent nations” does have considerable legal justification, even though there seems to be no dispute that the decision was based at least as much on politics as on law. Tribes are redefining their place in society based on the influx of money and power that has come with tribal gaming; a right afforded to only federally-recognized tribes. The history of Indian gaming is the history of a cross-border issue: the unsuccessful, then successful, and now somewhat...
- Indian gaming began modestly in the 1970s with high stakes bingo operations in California and Florida. Although more limited forms of bingo were lawful in each of those states, state and local officials raised stronger and louder objections, as Indian bingo operations grew larger and more successful. Local officials in California believed that they had a particularly strong basis for challenging the Indian bingo operations because, in 1953, Congress enacted Public Law 280 that recognized state criminal jurisdiction over Indian reservations within California and several other states. Public Law 280 dramatically changed the federal common law of Indian nations.
- In California, state officials believed that state gaming laws extended into Indian reservations; accordingly, Indian tribes sought declaratory relief to quiet California’s regulatory intentions. The case reached the Supreme Court in 1987, resulting in
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Chapter 12. Blackjack and the Law 16 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The National Indian Gaming Commission was established to oversee the enforcement of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”). IGRA divides all gambling into three classes. Class III includes banking card games, like blackjack. IGRA asserts that tribes must first get approval from the state, through a tribal-state compact, before offering any Class III game. However, the Act contains a “grandfather clause,” allowing to continue unchanged as Class II any Indian card game played on or before May 1, 1988 in South Dakota, Michigan, North Dakota, and Washington.
- INDIAN GAMING
- There is no constitutional right to gamble. But if a state legalizes one game, can it keep other games illegal? In , the Montana Supreme Court was asked the question whether it was a violation of the constitutional provisions of equal protection to adjudge one game, poker, to be legal, while another game, blackjack, is deemed to be illegal. Here, the defendant brought a declaratory judgment action for purposes of determining the constitutionality of a statute that governs card games and authorizes specific types of card games. This Court ruled that the statute was constitutional; and that it did not violate equal protection. Also, this statute was not special legislation which discriminates against blackjack and those gamblers who prefer to play blackjack; and defendant lacked standing to challenge constitutionality of a statute which defined some games as authorized (e.g., poker), and some games as unauthorized, such as blackjack.
- Blackjack, or 21, is a unique casino game. Like all traditional casino games, blackjack is both a banking game and a percentage game. Players play every hand against a single opponent, the house, which has a fund of money, a bank, which is relatively infinite compared with the limited stakes and maximum bet size allowed players. And not only does the house participate in every hand, it has a statistical advantage. The easiest way to see this is when both a player and the dealer go over 21—the dealer wins, because the player has to act first.
- any cheating or thieving game . . . either knowingly or unknowingly . . . which tends to deceive the public or which might make the game more liable to win or lose, or which tends to alter the normal random selection of criteria which determine the results of the game.” Regulation
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Chapter 7. New Jersey, Puerto Rico, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Colorado, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Other U.S. Jurisdictions 21 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Casino gambling in the U.S. now includes a majority of the states and possessions, from Maine to the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas. Many of these are true, free-standing casinos, owned and operated by for-profit companies. Some states, including New York and Delaware, limit casino games to racetracks. These “racinos” usually start with only slot machines or their equivalents, video lottery terminals (“VLTs”), before the legislatures eventually allow table games. Federally recognized Indian tribes offer their own casinos in every state which has legalized gaming. Indian gaming is limited to “Indian land,” defined in the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Many states, like New Jersey, do not have any Indian lands; though that has not stopped attempts by outside tribes to open casinos there. Some states, like California, have State Constitutional provisions allowing only tribes to have casinos. Near-casinos, created by installing large numbers of devices that look and play like slot...
- It was more than ten years before other states began legalizing casinos. These expressly decided to reject both the Nevada free enterprise model and the Atlantic City tourist redevelopment model of giant casino resorts. Instead, states restricted casino games to low-stakes banking table games and slot machines, and to a few riverboats and mountain towns.
- New Jersey lawmakers decided to go further than Nevada in their attempt to keep the industry clean. The state even licenses garbage collectors and others who contract to provide goods and services with the casino industry. A casino license is required to own or operate a casino; however, only owners, operators, or landlords may hold a casino license. Operators, landlords, gaming employees, junket representatives and enterprises, service industries, race and sports books, gaming devices, lenders, labor organizations, and gaming schools all are required to obtain some form of licensure. Individuals desiring to hold a license must be licensed to the standards applicable to casino key employees, except for residency. The Commission has no restrictions on foreign investment. But, the Commission will demand the use of particular application forms, along with an investigatory arm. There are accounting requirements, including audits, taxes and fees, gaming equipment, and the stipulation of...
- New Jersey’s first legal gaming casino opened on May 26, 1978. To open so quickly after the 1976 vote and 1977 statute, the company, Resorts International, bought and refurbished an old hotel. The Casino Act required, among other things, that a casino be inside a hotel with a minimum of 500 rooms. Although casinos were legalized mainly to revitalize the tourist economy of Atlantic City, the laws also provided that all tax revenues from the casinos would benefit senior citizens and the disabled by reducing their real estate taxes and utility fees and expanding their health benefits. Over the years, Atlantic City’s casinos have raised billions of dollars for the state. Legal gaming does contribute significantly to the state economy, both directly and indirectly. It has also provided employment: more people work in Atlantic City’s casinos than live as full time residents of the city. Unfortunately, casino gaming and tourism is not large enough to drive an economy as large as that of...
- By 1990, a variety of other states had started to legalize casino gaming. Casino companies now had alternatives of where to invest their capital and that capital was going anywhere but Atlantic City. To respond to the dramatic change in the business landscape, New Jersey started to implement a series of legislative and regulatory changes that reinvented the way New Jersey regulated gaming. The original casino enabling act limited Atlantic City casinos to five specific games. Poker was not included. Over the next five years, the regulators and legislators made it easier to introduce new table games, permitted casinos to operate around-the-clock and eliminated many of the facility requirements, such as the amount of various kinds of public space. The effort to give casino operators more discretion in how they run ...many licenses an individual can hold, eliminated experiential requirements for casino employees and reduced duplication between the Commission and the Division of Gaming...
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Chapter 8. Tribal Gaming 80 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The NIGC is an independent federal agency, created by IGRA to have a role in regulating Indian gaming. The U.S. Attorney General also plays a role in ensuring compliance with IGRA and other federal laws related to gaming. The Attorney General heads the U.S. Department of Justice, which includes the FBI, which exercises criminal investigation powers that involve Indian gaming. The NIGC and the FBI created the Indian Gaming Working Group, which was founded in 2003 and coordinates federal resources in the investigation and prosecution of cases of national importance that impact on the tribal gaming industry. Also, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”)
- However, it should go without saying that individuals are not free to rename statutes, even if they are offended by the title. Thus, the law should always be called the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, not the Native American Gaming Regulatory Act, or any other variation.
- IGRA established the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC), which is an independent federal regulatory agency. Although IGRA empowers the NIGC to enact “such regulations and guidelines as it deems appropriate to implement the provisions of” the Act, , the NIGC is mostly concerned with Class II gaming; Class III is to be co-regulated by the state and tribe pursuant to a compact. For example, in 1999, the NIGC created “minimum internal control standards” (“MICS”) for all tribal gaming operations. The MICS regulated specific games, as well as cage and credit internal audits, surveillance, electronic processing, and complimentary services and items ( 25 C.F.R. Pt. 542). In a careful reading of IGRA, District Court Judge John D. Bates ruled the NIGC did not have the statutory authority to issue MICS over Class III gaming,
- Much of the fighting over what types of gambling are allowed on Indian land revolves around the question of Class II versus Class III. Class III games require a tribal-state compact and states often put limits on the numbers of machines and ask to share in the tribes’ gaming revenue. Class II games do not require a compact, or any other approval by the states. Class II games are often referred to as bingo-type but they also cover non-banked card games. Poker is a non-banked card game; in poker, players play against each other, rather than against the “house” or a “bank.” These card games are classified as Class II as long as the card games are in compliance with state law on hours of operation and wager and pot limits. Class II also allows video or computer versions, so long as the games, primarily bingo and paper pull-tabs, are merely being played with “electronic, computer, or other technological aids.” A facsimile of a game, such as a stand-alone bingo machine where the player...
- Before a tribe can open a Class III gaming facility, it must enter an agreement, a tribal-state compact, with the state on how the gaming will be regulated. IGRA requires the state, though not the tribe, to negotiate in good faith. IGRA gives the state, along with the tribe, the power to sue in federal court to enforce the compact by enjoining any Class III gaming activity that violates the tribal-state compact. In , the Court held that a state’s right of action extends only to gaming activities that violate an existing compact; the state does not have the authority to seek to enjoin Class III games conducted in the absence of a tribal-state compact. The tribe must first formally request that the state enter into compact negotiations; once the state receives the request, “the state shall negotiate with the Indian Tribe in good faith . . .”
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Table of Cases 26 results (showing 5 best matches)
Chapter 1. The World of Gaming and Gambling 69 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The traditional game of bingo has consistently been viewed as gambling, although many times it remained legal only because it was used for charitable purposes. However, its most recent significance emanates from the ongoing discussion of its legality in the context of Indian gambling under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”), et seq. (2008), and the development of gaming devices that play much like slot machines, although they are technically bingo. Potential difficulties in this area center on the difference between what is categorized as IGRA Class II gambling (bingo and non-banked card games) and Class III (lotteries and the full assortment of casino games including slots, table games, etc.). The legal difference is that a tribe may open Class II gaming ...only that the gambling is permitted by that state’s laws. The term “Class II machine” has become so common that it is used in jurisdictions like South America, which have no Class I or Class II games, since they...
- Technically, there are distinctions in the common law among gambling, gaming, lotteries, and wagers, and the distinctions have important differences in the eyes of the law. The entire field should be called “gambling,” although it is understandable why the more genteel word “gaming” is used. However, care must be taken in using that term, since “gaming” also can mean children’s video games or merely one form of gambling, i.e., where a patron goes to a location like a casino to participate in a gambling game.
- By 1999, enough broadband was available to allow person-to-person (“P2P”) games to be offered to the general public. Poker was first out, and continues to hold first place in P2P games by its huge popularity. Texas Hold’em became the most popular poker game as the result of being televised in the World Series of Poker. The game was one of the favorite games of professional poker players in the early games, plus it had up-cards, allowing viewers to have some idea of what was going on. Other poker staples, such as 7-card and 5-card draw, also are easily simulated online. As with other kinds of online gaming, betting is allowed on an account system. The Internet allowed the creation of large-scale, commercial P2P betting exchanges. These provide a neutral service for a private wager between individuals. The service matches, for a fee, two or more patrons who want to wager on opposite teams in an upcoming game, often with point spreads or other inducements to encourage betting on the...
- Card games in particular can be classified as “banked,” on the one hand, and non-banked on the other hand. In a banked, or banking, game, the players compete against one player, usually the gaming establishment, rather than against one another. The term arises from the definition of a bank; in a banking game there is, literally, a fund of money against which players bet. The banker does not initially place a bet. Instead, the banker “fades” or matches, up to the house limits, the bets made by the players.
- The question of whether Internet social casinos games should be regulated and subjected to government control is an issue of great debate in Europe and Australia. Licensed land-based and Internet casino companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to get into the business. Casino companies like social games because they help spread their brand name and build customer lists. Slot machines-type games are very popular, e.g., Slotomania has 14 million “likes” on Facebook. Furthermore, social casino games have the potential to make lots of money.
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Chapter 3. The U.S. Constitution, Federal Laws and Gaming 21 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Gaming on Indian land involves difficult legal issues, many dating back to before the creation of the United States itself. States usually want their anti-gambling laws to apply to all land within their borders, including reservations. But the unique status of tribes as domestic nations complicates the relationship between tribes and the states, even if the gaming is restricted to Indian land. When tribal gaming seeks to include patrons outside the tribes’ land, additional cross-border issues arise. In part due to the requirements of federal law, particularly the IGRA, tribes have had to often behave not as separate sovereigns, but as active participants in state-level politics, to protect their gaming markets.
- IGRA intentionally created a paradigm shift in Indian policy in the United States. In light of aggressive state political activities, the federal-tribal relationship has given way to a state-tribal relationship that has had far greater economic importance to many Indian tribes. For many tribes, legal gambling is the most significant economic resource available; it is the single most effective economic development mechanism that Indian country has ever known. The rise of Indian gaming has also forced the states to recognize and respect tribal governments and negotiate as equals, as required by IGRA.
- Although it appears that the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution may have lost most of its practical and immediate thunder, there are still parts of the Constitution that have great practical force. For example, Congress cannot violate an individual’s right of free speech; of course, it is up to the courts to decide whether free speech has been violated. The second, practical limitation on the federal government’s power is relevant because there is only a limited amount of time to deal with a tremendous number of pressing problems, and gambling is almost never a high priority. Even matters solely under the control of Congress, such as Indian gaming, are not usually deemed to be pressing political priorities. Even when Congress has the power and interest to act, it usually defers to the states. For example, when it finally was forced to face the question of what to do about tribal gaming, due to a U.S. Supreme Court case, Congress decided to let the public policies of the...
- The UIGEA expressly does not change state or federal substantive law; it is merely, as the name implies, an enforcement statute. But it was rushed through so quickly that it has actually led to an expansion of Internet gaming. Some forms, including fantasy sports, inter-tribal gaming and intra-state gaming, are expressly excluded from the UIGEA. Others, including contests of skill and games with free alternative means of entry, have expanded, since they are not considered gambling.
- For two centuries, Indian tribes had to be mostly concerned with their relationship with the federal government, and were much less concerned about their relationships with state governments. Indian tribes counted on the federal government to protect them from the rapacious settlers that sought to overrun Indian lands, as well as from the state governments that sanctioned such activity.
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Chapter 21. Criminal Laws and Gaming 14 results (showing 5 best matches)
- There are a number of federal criminal statutes of general applicability that may pertain to tribal gaming; for example, sports bribery laws; lottery statutes prohibiting interstate mailing of lottery tickets; Gambling Ship Act; Wire Act; Travel Act; Wagering Paraphernalia Act; Illegal Gambling Business Act; and RICO. However, two federal statutes have specific applicability to criminal provisions that apply to Indian gaming: they are IGRA’s criminal provisions, and the Johnson Act. IGRA created three federal criminal provisions, which are found in Title 18 of the United States Code; they are § 1166, “Gambling in Indian Country,” which generally prohibits gambling in violation of state law on tribal lands; § 1167, which makes it a federal crime to steal money or property from a tribal gaming establishment; and § 1168, which applies to officers, employees, and individual licensees of tribal gaming establishments, making it a federal crime to embezzle or steal money from the facility...
- ), as well as the possession or use of illegal gambling devices in Indian Country ( ; this portion of the Johnson Act is sometimes called the Indian Gambling Act). There are unresolved issues of whether the Johnson Act might apply to legal gaming devices on Indian land. But there is no doubt that slot machines and roulette wheels operated in tribal casinos without complying with the technicalities of IGRA, including first obtaining a tribal-state compact, is a violation of the Johnson Act.
- Other Washington statutes make it a crime to participate in any form of gambling that is not authorized by the state or a pure social game. But there is at least some doubt as to whether these apply to the Internet at all, let alone to a game where the operator and all of the other players are in foreign states.
- The other acts by the video poker machine operators and owners include offering special inducements to customers through logos on the machines offering a “jackpot” and receiving substantial gross proceeds from video gaming devices. Because video poker casino owners receive their monies from video gaming devices,
- GAMBLING IN INDIAN COUNTRY
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Chapter 5. Charities and Gaming 19 results (showing 5 best matches)
- California v. Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, 480 U.S. 202, 107 S.Ct. 1083, 94 L.Ed.2d 244 (1987)
- , allows charities to run for-profit bingo games without losing their status as tax-exempt charities. But as with most commercial gaming, statutes allowing charities to conduct bingo games are only protections against criminal prosecutions, and do not change the civil laws against enforcement of gambling debts. In , the Court held that even though the taint of illegality had been removed from charitable bingo games, a participant who alleged that she won $6,000 in a bingo game could not use the courts to enforce her gaming contract.
- , Florida Statutes (1975), is a typical charity gambling statute. It permits only non-profit and veteran’s organizations to operate the games, which are limited to bingo. The charities must have been in existence for three years and must be engaged in charitable, civic, community, benevolent, religious or scholastic works. Proceeds from the bingo games must be donated to charities’ charitable endeavors. , Florida Statutes (1975) permits any other non-profit organization also to conduct bingo games, but only if they make no money for themselves from the game by returning to the players all of the proceeds in the form of prizes. Taken together, these subsections permit non-profit or veterans’ organizations to conduct bingo games, so long as the purpose is either to raise money for certain broad categories of social welfare or for the pure recreation and enjoyment of their members.
- Although bingo is the most common game operated by charities, the opportunities for gambling have expanded beyond five-by-five bingo cards. Pull-tabs are usually defined as a form of bingo by state statute. And in some states, charities can operate lotteries. These are often instant tickets, which take the form of paper scratchers or pull-tabs. These are sometimes called “pickle jars,” from the days when gamblers chose their pull-tabs by reaching into pickle jars filled with the instant tickets. Some charities are putting these games on video screens, often creating games that are indistinguishable from slot machines.
- number of players participating, limited to paper tickets, and restricted to recognized charities. Unless there has been a complete preemption by state law, cities and counties are free to impose additional restrictions on charitable games, even when those games are made expressly legal under state law.
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Acknowledgments 8 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Internet Gaming Law
- I also want to acknowledge the individuals who have worked with me on gaming law publications. My Co-Editor-in-Chief of the
- Gaming Law Review and Economics
- There are so many, now, who are studying and writing about gaming law. The leaders in the field in academia include the late William R. Eadington, Director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada, Reno. Bill invited me to be the Institute’s first Visiting Scholar, giving me the chance to work with, among others, Mark Nichols, Richelle O’Driscoll, Connie Rehard, and especially Judy A. Cornelius. In the southern part of the state, Prof. William N. Thompson of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, is one of the most prolific writers covering legal gaming. Others at UNLV who have worked with me include James H. Frey, John Goodwin, Larry A. Strate, Susan Jarvis and the rising younger scholars, David G. Schwartz and Bo Bernhard. Other gaming scholars include James Smith at Pennsylvania State University; Tom Hammer at Glassboro State College; David Miers, Cardiff Law School; Jack Samuels, Montclair State College; Jerome H. Skolnick, New...
- There are now thriving organizations for gaming lawyers, including the International Masters of Gaming Law and the International Association of Gaming Advisors. I want to give special thanks to Daniel Schiffman, the late Bob Faiss, Frank Catania, Tony Coles, Kelly Duncan, Doug Florence, Carlos Fonsca Sarmiento, Morden C. Lazarus, Michael Lipton, Mike McBride, Bob Stocker, Miriam Wilkinson, Andre Wilsenach, G. Michael Brown, Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., Cory Aronovitz, Bud Hicks, Frank A. Schreck, Michael D. Rumbolz, Maria Milagros Soto, John J. Tipton, Trevor Garrett, Nancy J. Goodwin, Russell C. Mix, Michael J. Gough, Gloria E. Soto, Tony Parrillo, David O. Stewart, Kevin F. O’Toole, Fred Gushin, Andy Schneiderman, Sandy Millar, Sue McNabb and Michael Zatezalo.
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Chapter 19. Lotteries 24 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”) divides all gambling into three classes. Tribes may offer any Class II (bingo and poker) or III (all other gambling, including lotteries) permitted in the state. (For Class III gaming, the tribe must first have a tribal-state compact, which spells out the areas of co-regulation.) The question of exactly what gambling is permitted under state law, called the scope of gaming, therefore becomes of vital importance. In , the court held that the scope of gaming was not limited to the particular games expressly allowed under state law. At the time, the only forms of Class III gaming permitted under Wisconsin’s Constitution were parimutuel on-track betting and a state lottery. But the federal trial court, looking at Wisconsin state court interpretations of what is a “lottery,” ruled that the term included any game involving prize, chance, and consideration. Although these cases were decided when lotteries were outlawed, the legal definition held,...
- Keno also shows how jurisdictions can differ, even on the exact same game. For while the Nevada State Legislature has declared that keno is not a lottery, the federal Internal Revenue Service has declared that it is. Various forms of gambling are treated differently for purposes of reporting and withholding for federal tax purposes. For example, there is a federal excise wager tax on certain wagers. As the IRS says in its official publication, “The IRS Gaming Tax Law and Bank Secrecy Act Issues for Indian Tribal Governments,” “In general, the tax on wagering applies to . . . wagers placed in a lottery conducted for profit (other than a state-conducted lottery).” The IRS then ads this Note:
- Pull-tabs, raffles, and tip jar games generally are taxable lotteries. Bingo (not instant bingo) is specifically excluded from the wagering tax. Keno may or may not be excluded from the wagering tax. The general rule is if it is a live Keno game, meaning all players are present and winnings are paid before the beginning of the next game, then it is not subject to the gaming excise tax. Generally, with Keno games over 20, the player may leave and collect his winnings at a later date (usually up to one year). This type of Keno game would be subject to the wagering tax.
- The law used to classify all gambling as being in one of three categories: Gaming, wagering and lotteries. The three were treated differently by lawmakers. Wagering was not much of a problem before the development of modern technology, because it was usually only bets between two individuals. Gaming and lotteries were of much greater concern. Gaming was considered both more and less dangerous than lotteries. Gaming created more of a risk to the bettors, because the games were fast, repetitive and conducted in hidden rooms, with players usually betting against a “house,” which had the odds in its favor. In the 19th century probability theory was not widely understood, and both players and lawmakers often saw no difference between a cheating game which was rigged, and one which merely favored the house. The feeling of early Americans toward gaming rooms is shown in the slang of the era, which called them “gambling hells.”
- But gaming was also considered less dangerous to society than lotteries, because gambling games required that players go to a particular place and participate in the play of a game. Where only a few men could go to a casino at any one time, lottery tickets can be sold virtually everywhere. This distinction was recognized by the United States Supreme Court:
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Chapter 18. Daily Fantasy Sports and eSports 29 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The main opponents of DFS are established legal gambling operators, particularly casinos. But casino owners have much bigger things to worry about than DFS, including the lack of interest in casino gaming by Millennials. And privately owned casinos do not have a good record when it comes to keeping out newcomers. Nevada’s casinos were against both Indian gaming and Internet poker; battles which they lost badly.
- The UIGEA also expressly defers to such existing statutes as the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”), the Wire Act, and the Sports Protection Act, none of which has been invoked against season- long fantasy leagues. Under the UIGEA, the definition of unlawful gambling depends upon the substantive law of the states where the bettor and the operator reside; it is expressly made irrelevant if the wire happens to cross into another state that prohibits the type of gambling involved. Many states had declared that season-long fantasy leagues are predominantly contests of skill and not gambling. The UIGEA had the real-world practical impact of setting standards for what season-long fantasy games were permitted, even though it expressly states that it does not change any substantive law.
- And the video games are orders of magnitude more complicated that a football game, and thus more susceptible to cheating. Even without manipulating a game, a team could get an edge if it finds a way to read the actual code that creates the video game, perhaps through an insider or outside hacker.
- eSports raises a host of additional issues. The NFL tightly regulates its sanctioned football game. Something as seemingly minor as the air pressure of the football can create a worldwide scandal. But the video games used in the eSports competitions are owned and operated by private companies. There is practically no oversight from any government, and even few voluntary associations. Without rules and standards, the operators of video games are free to change the games at any time, which, they, in fact, do. Forget about under-filled footballs. In the video games that are the bases of all eSports, footballs can be shaped like footballs one week, and baseballs the next.
- Because the video games are owned and operated by private companies and there are few, if any leagues, bettors have to trust the honesty of the “athletes,” officials and game operators. No gaming regulator has jurisdiction over the actual video game tournaments, because they are contests of skill. The Nevada Gambling Control Board is not involved in any way with the way NFL games are conducted. But, while it might be difficult to bribe a quarterback with a multi-million-dollar salary, eSports participants are almost always amateurs. Even referees are sometimes only given their traveling expenses.
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Introduction 7 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Perhaps our cycles of complete prohibition to complete permissiveness and back again can be explained by the tendency of Americans to go to the limits, and beyond. Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act with the image of tribal bingo halls in mind. Entrepreneurs took the poorly written law and used it to create some of the largest casinos in the world.
- Gaming Law in a Nutshell,
- By comparison, lotteries operating in all but a half-dozen states sell more than $60 billion in lottery tickets. Add to this parimutuel betting on horses, dogs, and jai-alai; total “action” in casinos and on slot machines; legal wagers on sports; bets made in licensed card rooms; and expenditures before prize payments in charity gaming and Indian bingo, and the total amount wagered legally in the United States is about a trillion dollars. Looking just at revenue, Americans spent more money on gambling than they did on all live events, concerts, plays, all movie theaters, all spectator sports, and all forms of recorded music—combined.
- Part of the problem is simply historical. This is the third time in American history that legal gambling has swept across the nation. Twice before, the gaming boom crashed down in scandal, leaving anti-gambling laws on the books.
- What does the spread of gambling mean for the future? It is important to remember that the prior two gambling waves ended with nationwide prohibitions on virtually all forms of gaming. Is the current boom headed toward the same bust?
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Chapter 9. Canadian Casinos 18 results (showing 5 best matches)
- All other gaming in Canada also operates entirely under the authority of the provincial and territorial governments. Charities, First Nations (Indian tribes, often called “bands”), and private groups all must follow the guidelines set by the provincial governments.
- So, Canadian casinos opened without dice games. Some used roulette wheels with pictures of dice, so that they could offer craps. Eventually, the law was changed to allow all traditional casino banking games.
- The Aboriginal gaming sector is a great success story. Bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars to tribal communities and providing funding for countless projects and services. Aboriginal gaming in Canada is diverse and varied.
- Gambling in Canada has always been linked to the Canadian Criminal Code. In 1892, this code banned all forms of gambling; however, charitable games such as bingo and raffles were allowed in 1900. This was followed by horse racing in 1910; and in 1925, gambling events were allowed to take place at agricultural fairs and exhibitions. This led to the massive temporary casinos offering games like blackjack during the Calgary Stampede and other fairs.
- In the United States, many Indian tribes have launched successful gambling enterprises that have provided the wherewithal to improve social and economic conditions on many tribal reserves. Canadian First Nation groups are acutely aware of how Indian tribes in the United States have improved their lot through gambling proceeds, but they have been denied in their own efforts to establish similar gambling businesses. The 1985 Criminal Code amendment gave exclusive jurisdiction over gambling to the provinces. This transfer of authority for gambling was seen by some as circumventing the right of First Nations to create and operate gambling ventures. But an examination of the constitutional laws shows that bands in Canada were not historically viewed as domestic nations, as tribes in the U.S. were. The Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution expressly gives the U.S. Congress the power “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.”
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Index 90 results (showing 5 best matches)
Outline 65 results (showing 5 best matches)
Chapter 16. Internet Gaming 64 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Card games in particular can be classified as “banked,” on the one hand, and “non-banked” or “round” games, on the other hand. In banked or banking games, the players compete against one player, usually the “House,” i.e., the gaming establishment, rather than against each other. The term arises from the definition of a bank: in a banking game, there is a fund of money against which the players bet. The banker “fades” or matches, up to house limits, the bets made by the players. A percentage game is a game where the house participates as a player and has a percentage advantage. Banking games are usually also percentage games. That is, the house participates in the game, taking on all other players, with a percentage advantage in its favor. Casino games like roulette are typically only played as banking games.
- Casino-style games are those games that are found in Nevada-style licensed gambling establishments. These games can include blackjack, craps, and roulette; slot machines, and video poker machines; and poker itself, which is classified as a casino game, under Nevada law. Landbased casinos are incorporating more electronics into their games, such as creating growing side-bet jackpots. Internet versions of casino games are becoming more and more indistinguishable from their real-world counterparts.
- By definition, skill games are not gambling, even if it is played for money and valuable prizes are awarded. Federal and state governments are free to decide whether a game is predominantly skill. This allows the governments some room to regulate. The result is a wide variety in the way that the same game is treated under the law. The appeal and action of games is a powerful marketing tool, particularly on the Web. Skills games, like sweepstakes promotions, lure advertisers to the possibility of increased “stickiness”—that is, visitors not only come to the page but stay, and eventually use the service, or at least read the ads. Online versions of all these games are offered by Internet gaming sites. Generally, a bettor contacts an online gaming site and establishes
- In 2006, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (“UIGEA”) included an express exemption for fantasy games; which it defined as not being a “bet or wager.” . The UIGEA also expressly defers to such existing statutes as the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (“IGRA”), the Wire Act, and the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, none of which has been invoked against fantasy leagues. Under the UIGEA, the definition of unlawful gambling depends upon the substantive law of the states where the bettor and the operator reside; it is expressly made irrelevant if the wire happens to cross into another state that prohibits the type of gambling involved. Many states have at least implicitly declared that fantasy leagues are predominantly contests of skill and not gambling. The UIGEA has had the real-world practical impact of setting standards for what fantasy games are permitted, even though it expressly states that it does not change any substantive law.
- Almost any game can be transposed into software form. The term “video game” can be defined as games that are available to play over computers, including PCs, laptops, PDAs, and 3G mobile phones; or dedicated platforms, including TV consoles or handheld devices whose central feature is a video display and where player input, moves, and results are shown in animated form. The overwhelming majority of video games are games of skill and amusement games. While console-style video game systems such as PS2 have long allowed multi-player participation by allowing four handsets to be plugged into one TV console, it was only in 1996 that PC-based games began to network online which offers interactive play, instead of simply playing against the software. The assorted video/FRPG combinations, applied to PCs, have been strengthened by digital technology until they have become, in many respects, virtual worlds that are worlds unto themselves. They are also known as “persistent games,” or,...
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Chapter 2. Gambling and the Law® 19 results (showing 5 best matches)
- In 1964, the state lottery was rediscovered with the creation of the New Hampshire Sweepstakes. To legalize parimutuel betting on horse races and later state lotteries, many states had to amend their constitutions. This Third Wave of legal gambling has swept in the charities, and in an unusual development, federally recognized Indian tribes. Developments in the Third Wave have been casino gambling, state lotteries, video machines, Internet gambling, commercial sweepstakes, gambling tournaments, charity and Indian bingo, and the rapid growth of legal card rooms, particularly poker. Near-gambling, activities which might be outlawed as gambling in one state but not its neighbor, are spreading, especially through the Internet and cell phones. Games which appear to eliminate one or more of the three elements of gambling—chance, consideration and prize—even when they look like gambling games can be fantastically successful. The problem for operators is finding a way to monetize the...
- Before there were true casinos and money poker games online, there were free games, many of which looked like gambling games. In the early days of the Internet, transmission was so incredibly slow on dial-up modems that game graphics had to be primitive to the point where an image of a roulette wheel would not even appear to spin. Many games were not gambling because they were free to enter; in some there was literally no way to spend money.
- The federal government has a hand in regulating gambling, but mainly to assist states in enforcing their public policies. Thus, it is state laws and local ordinances that have the most impact on gaming. Most crimes, for example, including most anti-gambling laws, are still solely the responsibility of the various states. The federal government does get involved when it has to, as with Indian gaming, or when the states ask it to, mostly to help fight organized crime. The U.S. Supreme Court did uphold
- There have been three distinguishable waves of legalized gambling in the United States; the second period was clouded with scandal, and caused “prohibition”—like reactions that have only ended with the latest legal gambling boom, which includes casino gaming, state lotteries, games on Native American reservations, and Internet gambling.
- The modern casino was born in Gold Rush San Francisco. Gamblers, that it, prospectors, came from all over the world in the hopes of striking it rich. San Francisco leaders could not prevent the mingling of races and classes—even if they had wanted to. Like most frontier towns, every bar had table games in the back offering the favorite casino games of the various birth countries of city’s new residents. We know this because the 12 most popular games were expressly outlawed by name when casinos were banned in the late 1850s.
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Chapter 22. The IRS and Gambling 15 results (showing 5 best matches)
- State legislatures can restrict participation in gaming. The legislation can also impose heavy taxes on the gaming industry. Gaming is usually taxed at a rate higher than the rates imposed upon most other industries. Illinois imposes the highest gaming tax in the United States, 70% at the highest level. In Nevada, gaming tax revenues account for more than half of all public budgets.
- Problems arise when the tax code is used for some purpose other than raising revenue. In gambling, money changes hands so quickly and with so little documentation that the event is impossible to reconstruct without video or other recordings. For legal games, this means that, without documentation, the regulations are nearly powerless to control the flow of cash. Controversies continue to erupt over the tax regulations of legal games. The IRS fought for years to get the casinos to withhold on the tokes (tips) given casino dealers. And, the IRS apparently has never been successful in stationing agents in the cash counting rooms of the casinos. The Reagan Administration imposed regulations requiring casinos to file detailed reports on their high rollers. Additionally, the IRS will be able to inspect casino credit files on a routine basis. Pawn shops, stock and commodity brokers, travel agencies, and jewelers are required to file these forms. Yacht and car dealers are routinely reported...
- AND GAMING
- CTRCs, filed with the Nevada Gaming Control Board, were made available to the Internal Revenue Service anyway.
- But the CTRCs were not enough. Government investigators realized that data from legal gaming could be mined for even more information. So, FinCEN imposed a requirement that casinos act as police officers, and report mere suspicions that a crime had taken place.
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Chapter 13. Poker and the Law 42 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Many state governments have decided that some games that purport to be poker, like video poker, do not share the attributes of the traditional game and are prohibited. Governments also may see the need to regulate the game to assure that it is conducted honestly and fairly. Most have decided to take the commercial aspects of the game from operators by prohibiting all but social or charitable games.
- Gambling games can be categorized as those of pure chance and those involving an element of skill. Games of pure chance include roulette, craps, keno, bingo, (traditional) slots, and lotteries. In these games, the outcome is determined by chance alone, and no strategy or skill can affect the long-run percentage of money won or lost. Casino games involving skill include blackjack, video poker, and many of the newer poker-based casino games such as Caribbean stud poker, let it ride poker, and three-card poker. In these types of games, the percentage of money won or lost is a direct reflection of a player’s level of skill.
- Poker is the best known non-banking or “round” card game. Unlike a banking game, in non-banking gambling games players play against each other, not against the house or any single player. In banking games, it is one player against all others; the banker collects all other players’ losses and pays all other players’ winnings. In poker, players’ losses go to another player; there is no house (other than a house-provided dealer to facilitate the game, but not make any bets). The winning player wins all the bets, less the house’s take. Any advantage the dealer gets by going last is only temporary, since the deal rotates, clockwise, to the next player after the round is over.
- This alternate viewpoint demonstrates a key difference between games of skill and games of chance, namely, that when given an element of control, a game normally dependent upon chance alone turns into a competition where each player utilizes the skills available to him to outmaneuver his opponents. Also, in poker, players do not go up against the house.
- But poker as a game of skill should be evaluated differently than games of chance. Some states have exempted certain skill games from criminal-gambling prohibitions. Many reasons exist for these exemptions.
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Chapter 6. Nevada 34 results (showing 5 best matches)
- In 1945, the Nevada legislature shifted responsibility for gaming regulation to the Tax Commission, which was made responsible for issuing gaming licenses and collecting taxes from the gaming establishments. In 1949, the Tax Commission began to investigate gaming license applicants; this was necessary to stave off the federal level proposals to substantially tax gambling receipts.
- In reaction to the Kefauver Commission, a State Gaming Control Board was established within the Tax Commission in 1955 and given independent status in 1959, concurrent with the creation of the Nevada Gaming Commission. Pursuant to the Nevada Gaming Control Act, , members of both these bodies are appointed by the governor to serve four-year staggered terms of office. The three-member Gaming Control Board is an administrative body that oversees six staff divisions: Investigations, Enforcement, Audit, Tax and License, Economic Research, and Administration. The Board recommends to the Gaming Commission which licenses should be granted and brings gaming law violators before the Commission for a hearing. The five-member Gaming Commission, a bipartisan rulemaking body consisting of business and professional leaders, considers recommendations from the Board and sets the state’s gaming policy.
- Nevada laws allow all forms of gaming, except lotteries. Authorized games include live table games, slot machines and other gaming devices, race books, sports pools, jai alai, and dog and horse racing. A casino may offer virtually any type of game played for money or property, including “baccarat, blackjack, bingo, chemin de fer, keno, klondike, monte, pai gow, panguingui, roulette, twenty-one, poker, and wheel of fortune.” Note that for historical reasons, dealing with the development of the game, the law lists both blackjack and twenty-one. The Nevada Gaming Commission can also approve a new game after a short field test.
- Gaming licenses are granted to private enterprises. The licensing and regulation of gaming are bifurcated between state and local governments having concurrent jurisdiction. In most areas of the state, a small business can receive a restricted license to operate up to 15 gaming devices. A local government can prohibit or restrict gaming within its city or county limits. Local governments can license and regulate gaming. Local governments often use licensing primarily for taxation and rarely use their powers in a regulatory fashion, except in Las Vegas. In Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, casinos are restricted to operators that have open and operating hotels with a minimum of 300 rooms. Clark County Ordinance 8.04.310.
- The 1931 statute that legalized gaming in Nevada provided that control of casinos within incorporated areas was the duty of city officials. Usually the sheriff’s office was empowered to regulate gaming outside these incorporated areas. Until 1945, that regulation by both cities and sheriffs was minimal and was concerned primarily with the collection and the control of drunks and cheaters.
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Chapter 10. International Gambling 52 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Unlike American casinos, the majority of gaming revenue came from table games. Traditional Chinese beliefs give the number nine great importance, so the domino game of pai gow, which translates as “make nine,” and particularly the card game of baccarat, are of overwhelming importance, rather than slot machines.
- Casino gambling in Canada and the United States differs from province to province and state to state. Also, important to Canada and United States are those casinos that are allowed on the land of that country’s Indigenous Peoples. With Nevada, of course, gaming dominates its economy. Gaming in Nevada is highly regulated. There are licenses for operators, landlords, gaming employees, junket representatives, information services, service industries, race books, and sports pools, disseminators, gaming devices, lenders, labor organizations, and gaming schools.
- Under Law No. 1016, Paraguay allows all forms of gambling, so long as they are operated in accordance with regulations from the National Commission on Games of Chance. Expressly permitted are casinos, with table games and video games; all types of lotteries; raffles; bingo, using 90 numbers, not the U.S. 75; quinella; promotional sweepstakes; electronic games of chance; sports betting; horseracing; and, telebingo. Most of the licenses are awarded through competitive bidding. The Act expressly gives municipal governments the exclusive authority to determine the number and types of gaming allowed for electronic gaming arcades. Casinos, on the other hand, are limited to only Asuncion and six departments, and only departments with more than 250,000 people may have more than one casino.
- Gambling is seen in Europe, as elsewhere, as a painless tax, an easy way for governments to raise revenue when they most need it and cannot raise taxes. The economic crisis that swept the world beginning in 2007 has led to more legalization of gaming in Europe. Italy was hit by an earthquake which caused massive damage in the center of the country, right when it was considering legalizing Internet gaming. The online gaming was put on a fast track, licenses were issued, and the money started pouring in.
- Since the power to regulate and control gaming lies in each province, there are, in effect, 24 different gaming regimes. Consequently, the rules change from province to province—such as the definition of “gambling” and “betting.” Legal gambling brings in so much money that it creates fights between federal and state governments.
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Chapter 20. Legal Gambling’s Right to Advertise 7 results (showing 5 best matches)
- The FCC staff has interpreted the term “lottery” to include all forms of gambling, including card games such as poker and blackjack; charity bingo, beano, and similar games; and all casino games, including craps, roulette, and slot machines. However, the FCC does allow information about betting on horse racing by interpreting handicapping as involving some skill. It will be interesting to see how the FCC and courts react to broadcast commercials for games like poker, once those begin to be run over the Internet by state lotteries.
- The FCC was given the power to enforce the anti-lottery broadcast law, along with the general power to rule the airways. Congress delegated its power to the FCC, and now the FCC has much the same power, and limitations, as Congress. The courts have decided that it is unconstitutional for the government to completely suppress the advertising of a legal enterprise. Since Congress itself cannot violate a legal gambling game’s right to commercial free speech, the FCC, which has only delegated power, also cannot restrict the legal gambling game’s right to advertise.
- Legal gambling’s right to advertise is a somewhat “confused” area of law. State lotteries advertise on television, radio, and newspapers; however, legal charities’ bingo games sometimes cannot even announce when a game is canceled on account of rain. Racetracks blanket the airwaves with commercials, and entire races, including the betting odds, are broadcast on television. But, licensed card clubs used to be prohibited from even broadcasting their business hours over the air. Until a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way, state-licensed casinos could not even broadcast commercials in the very state that issued the license. And state lotteries are still limited to television and radio in states with lotteries, which means that the Arizona and California Lotteries cannot broadcast commercials in Nevada.
- , the plaintiff claimed that he suffered injuries as a result of defendants’ deceptive advertisements which lured California residents to gamble in Las Vegas; these marketing efforts included television, newspapers, and radio advertisements, California billboards, as well as direct solicitation by mail, email, and telephone. Plaintiff alleges that defendant’s inducements were never intended to apply to “card-counters.” At the trial level, plaintiff’s complaint was dismissed. Of course, Nevada casinos are under no duty to admit all persons—including card counters—to play blackjack or any other game,
- hyperlinks to sites that accept money for wagers? Is a search-engine service such as Google or Yahoo violating gambling laws by listing gambling sites in response to inquiries? Although there are no definitive court decisions on these questions, a competent gaming attorney can guide his clients by applying established legal principles to existing statutes, regulations, attorney general opinions and precedents.
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Chapter 15. Video Poker, VLTs and Other Machines 10 results (showing 5 best matches)
- bingo games; and scratch-off lottery tickets, called scratchers. Of course, jurisdictions are free to change their laws. For example, in most states and under federal law on Indian land, a paper pull-tab is legally “bingo,” if sold in an authorized bingo hall.
- Since raids on video poker machines have become commonplace, the manufacturers have countered by coming up with ways to hide the outward appearance of the games while continuing the way that the game was played. Accordingly, in an attempt to appear to be a non-gambling video arcade game, poker is now being played with harmless, non-threatening images that are not related to poker, such as dwarves, balloons, and castles, instead of cards. For example, Dwarf Den flashes the image of five dwarves on the ...come in four different colors and are numbered from 1 to 13. You can “zap” a dwarf exactly the same way you can discard a card on a regular video poker machine. Winning combinations are the same as in poker: “Thin Twins” is a pair of aces; all of the same color, Green Brothers, Lavender Gang is a flush; a Generation is a straight and, a family is a full house, and so on. Changing the images does not change the legal characteristics of the game unless the anti-video law is so poorly...
- as defined in gambling statutes, since the game played on the machine was the game of poker, which is defined in that state’s statute as a game of chance. The Court held that the machine was an apparatus designed for use in connection with a game of chance which fell within the statutory definition of gambling device. (R.C. § 2915.01 (D.F.);
- , the Montana Supreme Court held that electronic poker machines are in actuality illegal slot machines. The Montana Card Games Act, M.C.A. 235–311(2), also declared that video poker machines do not qualify as a game of “poker,” and that the Act does not authorize playing the game of “poker” when a single player competes against the house. However, in , the Court held that an electronic video game that simulates draw poker fell
- Under the federal gambling statute, the Johnson Act (Gaming Device Act of 1962),
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Chapter 23. The Compulsive Gambler 5 results
- The antipathy of millennials to play non-stop at slot machines has not led to a decrease in the incidence of compulsive gambling with Internet gaming and Daily Fantasy Sports, there is little delay between playing a game and finding out if you’re a winner, which actually increases the addictive nature of the game.
- “PATHOLOGICAL GAMING” AS
- The Court held that this common law obligation, as applied to casinos, was abrogated by implication because the Indiana Gaming Commission, pursuant to statutory directive, created a program whereby persons may voluntarily place their name on an exclusion list that would prevent their being permitted to gamble, to receive direct marketing, or to receive casino credit privileges.
- Some of the most important changes in the law will come in the field of legal gambling. Legal gambling, the fastest growing industry in the United States, is often dependent upon freely given credit. As the legal games spread and win the right to use the court system to collect their debts, more and more
- The federal Court of Appeals ruled that (1) neither the Indiana gaming statute, nor Indiana regulation, imposed a duty upon the
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Chapter 14. Intellectual Property and Gaming 17 results (showing 5 best matches)
- Intellectual property law encompasses ideas and subjects such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets, trade dress as well as other subjects that relate to topics such as publicity rights, passing off, misappropriation, false advertising, and unfair competition. There are many aspects of intellectual property that apply to gambling, including patents for casino equipment and games, copyright issues in video poker, trademarks, and trade dress concerns in casino décor, logos, and packaging, etc. For example, the developers of a gaming video should always retain intellectual property ownership of the code, tools, and technology used in the creation of the game.
- Progressive Games, Inc. v. Canada (Commissioner of Patents)
- Closely related to the other causes of action in intellectual property is the area of trade secrets and the misappropriation thereof. Factors considered in determining whether trade secrets exist include (1) the extent to which information is known outside of the business; (2) the extent to which information is known to those inside of the business; (3) the precautions taken by the holder of the trade secret to guard the secrecy of the information; (4) the savings effected and the value to holder in having information as against competitors; (5) the amount of effort or money expended in obtaining and developing information; and (6) the amount of time and expense it would take for others to acquire and duplicate that information. There are many examples of trade secrets in gaming and gambling, which might include gaming manuals, methods of dealing cards, programming video poker games, etc. But the most valuable proprietary information for a casino is its list of whales and other high...
- AND GAMING GENERALLY
- PATENTS AND GAMING GENERALLY
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Chapter 11. The WTO and Cross- Border Gambling 7 results (showing 5 best matches)
- these are laws expressly designed to prevent cross-border gambling, so long as the operator is outside the boundaries of the state or nation. It is common to find that legal gambling, including Internet gaming, is permitted by companies that are licensed by that same state or nation, or even that the government is running gambling games itself.
- States can and do raise police power concerns to justify raising barriers to outside competitors while allowing the local businesses, or even the state itself, to operate identical businesses without restrictions. Sometimes the arguments work. But a court has to agree that not just companies in other states but those other states themselves may not be as concerned about issues like consumer health and safety. It is difficult, but not impossible, to convince a court that State A, which licenses gaming operations, is justified in keeping out a competing gaming operation licensed by State B in the same nation. For example, there have been a few land-based casino companies who have been licensed by Nevada regulators and yet found unacceptable by New Jersey regulators.
- There are a few precedents dealing with cross-border gambling prior to the explosion of Internet gaming. In earlier cases, the issue of whether a government may exclude legal gambling from its partners, mostly involved lottery tickets, which are easy to ship through the mails. But in addition there are other morally suspect industries producing goods and services that are routinely subjected to the police power of a state, such as alcoholic beverages and tobacco, that have also been the subjects of court decisions.
- had officially changed its interpretation of this law, deciding that it only applied to bets on sports events and races. So, prosecutors would have to find another statute, if they want to prevent a licensed overseas gaming operator from taking bets from America.
- The wording of the tests may differ, and certainly the actual applications of the policies to real-world situations vary greatly, but the basic principals restricting a government’s ability to exclude cross-border betting are surprisingly consistent and can be stated easily: A government that is obligated to let in goods and services of other jurisdictions must let in outside legal gambling, unless it can show that the exclusion is to protect its residents. Laws that merely protect the local gambling operations from outside competition are invalid. But even restrictions designed to limit gaming for solid reasons of
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- It is a great honor to write the second edition of my second Nutshell. My first Nutshell on Sports Law is now in its fifth edition. To me, the Nutshell is “graduation day.” It shows that a particular field has the gravitas to merit a victory lap. If that’s the case, and it is, then Gaming Law has certainly earned its stripes. It is the most dynamic field in law today! The second edition after only five years, proves that point. Our second edition looks at the dynamic field of e-gambling.
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- Publication Date: November 24th, 2017
- ISBN: 9781634605816
- Subject: Gaming Law
- Series: Nutshells
- Type: Overviews
- Description: Gaming Law in a Nutshell discusses all aspects of gambling law, and on all levels: federal, state, tribal, local and international. It covers all forms of gaming, legal and illegal, from traditional casinos and lotteries to internet poker and e-sports, pari-mutuel betting to daily fantasy sports and social media games. Two of the nation's leading experts explain why legal gambling, one of the fastest growing industries in the world, still faces restrictions on its right to advertise or even have its contracts enforced. The Nutshell has separate discussions of many jurisdictions, including Nevada, New Jersey and other states, Macau, Canada and other countries; Indian and charity gaming; taxes; intellectual property, compulsive gambling; and, the most recent developments in the most popular forms of gaming.