The Nevada Gaming Commission on March 17 relaxed its financial reporting requirements for privately owned businesses, including casinos.
Privately owned casinos no longer have to make their earnings reports available to the public.
The Gaming Commission said it costs too much for privately owned casinos to compile public earnings reports, and requiring them to do so is an overly burdensome and unnecessary regulation.
The prior reporting requirement also gave Nevada private casino’s a competitive disadvantage against out-of-state casinos that are privately owned and do not have to provide public earnings statements, according to the Gaming Commission.
While privately owned casinos in Nevada no longer have to make earnings statements available for public scrutiny, the still must submit financial reports to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, which maintains the state’s regulatory control.
The regulatory changes means the Cosmopolitan and SLS Las Vegas casinos are among those that no longer have to compile public earnings reports.
Private equity firms Blackstone Group and Stockbridge Capital own the Cosmopolitan and SLS, respectively.
The Culinary Workers Union opposed the regulatory change, saying it only exacerbates the notion of casinos and financial institutions being too big to regulate, while concealing important financial information from the public.
