Online Casinos in Nevada

Nevada is the oldest gaming jurisdiction in the United States, and it does have a statutory framework for gambling delivered over the internet. It does not follow that Nevada is a licensed online casino market, and this page does not say that it is. The reason no online casino status is recorded here is set out below.

What Nevada Law Authorises

Nevada Revised Statutes chapter 463 uses the term interactive gaming. The statute defines it as the conduct of gambling games through the use of communications technology that allows a person, using money or another instrumentality, to transmit information to a computer to assist in placing a bet or wager, together with corresponding information about the display of the game and the outcomes. The definition then fixes its own edges in two subparagraphs. The term "Includes, without limitation, Internet poker." It "Does not include the operation of a race book or sports pool that uses communications technology approved by the Board pursuant to regulations adopted by the Commission to accept wagers originating within this state for races, or sporting events or other events." Nevada's sports betting therefore sits outside this definition.

A gambling game, in the same chapter, is defined broadly: "“Game” or “gambling game” means any game played with cards, dice, equipment or any mechanical or electronic device or machine for money, property, checks, credit or any representative of value, including, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, faro, monte, roulette, keno, bingo, fan-tan, twenty-one, blackjack, seven-and-a-half, klondike, craps, poker, chuck-a-luck, wheel of fortune, chemin de fer, baccarat, pai gow, beat the banker, panguingui, slot machine, any banking or percentage game or any other game or device approved by the Commission or administratively approved by the Chair of the Board pursuant to regulations adopted by the Commission."

The Legislature's own findings on interactive gaming put it this way: "To provide for licensed and regulated interactive gaming, the State of Nevada must develop the necessary structure for licensure, regulation and enforcement." The statute also provides that, on the recommendation of the Commission, the Governor may enter into agreements with other governments allowing people physically located in a signatory jurisdiction to take part in interactive gaming conducted by operators licensed by a signatory government.

Why No Online Casino Status Is Recorded

The statute tells you that interactive gaming may be licensed. It does not tell you which games a licence actually permits. That is decided by the Nevada Gaming Commission, which is charged with adopting regulations to implement and enforce the state laws governing gaming and which describes itself as "the final authority on licensing matters, having the ability to approve, restrict, limit, condition, deny, revoke or suspend any gaming license." The instrument that settles the question is listed on the Gaming Control Board's own statutes and regulations page as "Regulation 5A - Operation of Interactive Gaming", and the Board publishes it there only as a PDF, so it is not quoted on this page.

No online casino status is recorded for Nevada as a result. A statutory definition that reaches gambling games delivered over communications technology is not a statement about which games a licence permits, and the one is not treated here as evidence of the other. A reader who needs the current position should go to the Nevada Gaming Control Board directly, where Regulation 5A is published in full.

Operating Without a Licence

The prohibition in the statute is severe and it is worth quoting. "It is unlawful for any person, either as owner, lessee or employee, whether for hire or not, either solely or in conjunction with others, to operate interactive gaming" until the Commission adopts regulations under the section, and unless that person first procures and thereafter maintains all appropriate licences required by those regulations. The penalty is in the same section: "A person who violates subsection 10 is guilty of a category B felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a minimum term of not less than 1 year and a maximum term of not more than 10 years or by a fine of not more than $50,000, or both." An interactive gaming facility is defined as any internet website or similar communications facility through which a person operates interactive gaming.

This site does not name or point readers toward offshore or unlicensed operators in any market, and Nevada is no exception.

Age Requirement

The minimum age is 21. The statute provides that a person under the age of 21 years shall not "Play, be allowed to play, place wagers at, or collect winnings from, whether personally or through an agent, any gambling game, slot machine, race book, sports pool or pari-mutuel operator." Because interactive gaming is defined as the conduct of gambling games through communications technology, the same figure applies online.

Sweepstakes Casinos

No status is recorded for sweepstakes casinos in Nevada either. No Nevada statute, Gaming Control Board industry notice, press release or public statement addressing the sweepstakes casino model one way or the other was found for this page. The absence of a status means the question has not been settled on evidence that could be quoted; it is not a finding that the model is permitted, and it is not a finding that it is banned. This site does not infer a sweepstakes position from a state's real-money position, from a neighbouring state, or from a national trend.

A sweepstakes casino is not a licensed real-money casino, and the two are never presented here as alternatives to each other.

Responsible Gambling

The Nevada Council on Problem Gambling describes itself as a non-profit information and referral agency focused on the impact of problem gambling on the state's citizens, businesses and communities, and it publishes a 24-hour Problem Gambling Helpline on 1-800-GAMBLER. The Nevada Gaming Control Board's own problem gambling page prints the same number and lists the Council, the National Council on Problem Gambling, Gamblers Anonymous and Gam-Anon among its assistance groups.

There is a live discrepancy worth recording. The National Council on Problem Gambling now brands the national helpline 1-800-MY-RESET on its own pages, while Nevada's regulator and the state Council still print 1-800-GAMBLER. Both numbers are published by the bodies that run the services, so this page records both rather than silently picking one.