With the major operators on the Las Vegas Strip going all in for iGaming, a group of non-Strip casino owners, bars and restaurants and Northern Nevada properties are objecting to the legalization of online gaming in the state. The 28 operators send a four-page letter to the Nevada Gaming Control Board outlining their objections and asking the board to consider all opinions when considering the mobile wagering options.
While Nevada has legalized mobile sports betting and online poker, the group believes legalizing online casino gaming is going too far. Even though the major corporations involved in online gaming want it expanded to the state, many of the signatories of the letter are prestigious and important powers in the state. Red Rock Resorts executives Frank Fertitta III and Lorenzo Fertitta; South Point Casino CEO Michael Gaughan; El Cortez Chairman and CEO Kenny Epstein; Golden Gate, The D Las Vegas and Circa owner Derek Stevens; and Plaza CEO Jonathan Jossel and just a few of the respected executives who signed the letter. Two operators of Strip casinos also signed the letter, Blake Sartini, of Golden Entertainment which owns the Strat and, Alex Meruelo, whose Meruelo Gaming operates the Sahara on the Strip and Reno’s Grand Sierra.
“We strongly oppose any expansion of online gaming in Nevada,” the letter states. “In your potential consideration of online gaming, we ask that you are deliberate in determining if online gaming is needed to grow Nevada’s economy, helpful to our local communities and consistent with our long-established regulatory framework.”
While many of the executives refused further comment, some were adamant in their objections.
“I’m just trying to keep my people working,” Gaughan told the Las Vegas Review Journal. “I got enough problems around here. I don’t need to compete against internet gaming.”
Monarch Casino Resort Inc. CEO John Farahi, who operates Atlantis Resort in Reno, said he signed the letter a few weeks ago. Monarch
“Now all of a sudden we want to take gaming to people’s living rooms and bedrooms. It makes no sense,” Farahi told the RJ.
“We want there to be a discussion, not just throw the doors open,” said Andrew Diss, vice president of government affairs for Meruelo Gaming, owner of the Grand Sierra in Reno and the Sahara in Las Vegas.
Northern Nevada casino operators also signed, including Anthony Marnell III (Nugget Casino Resort), Ferenc Szony (Truckee Gaming), Jeff Siri (Club Cal Neva), Rob Mederios (Boomtown), J Grant Lincoln (Baldini’s) and John Farahi (Monarch Casino Resort).
Executives also came out in support of restricted gaming venues, which offer 15 or fewer slot machines, believing licensing of out-of-state online gaming companies could undermine those businesses too.
Mega-operators such as MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment, Wynn Resorts, the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Boyd Gaming did not sign the letter. Other than the Sands Corp., all have online gaming operations outside Nevada, primarily through mobile sportsbooks, but now even the Sands is getting into the act following the January death of founder and Chairman Sheldon Adelson, an outspoken opponent of iGaming. The company announced in July that it would build a “digital gaming investment team.”
The impact on jobs appeared to be one of the key objections.
“Reduced jobs in physical gaming locations will hinder the enormous efforts the gaming industry and Nevada are making to recover from the pandemic and hurt the long-term economic growth of our state,” the letter said.
In addition to jobs, the letter fears for revenue if online gaming is legalized.
“Physical gaming locations are the economic engines of the state, employing over 430,000 Nevadans, supporting $19 billion in total wages, and paying almost $1.8 billion in industry-specific fees and taxes to both the state and local municipalities,” the letter states. “Online gaming will take revenue away from our existing casino resorts and other gaming locations, which will result in the elimination of jobs that are no longer needed with less visitation to physical gaming properties.”
The letter also points out that Nevada is different than other states that have approved online gaming, which has proven to be successful there and not poach players from land-based casinos.
“Online gaming has been approved in states with a limited number of commercial casinos, some without any commercial casinos at all,” says the letter. “In states with limited land-based gaming properties, online gaming may capture gaming tax revenue for the state that it otherwise would not receive by providing easier access to gaming entertainment.”
The letter asked that the Gaming Control Board ask the state’s Gaming Policy Committee, a 12-member informal group that considers how changes in gaming policy would affect the health of the industry. With the governor as chairman of the committee, other members include one member from both the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the Nevada Gaming Commission, a state senator and assemblyman, and a member of a Nevada Indian tribe. The governor then has the ability to appoint the final six members of the group.
Under former Governor Brian Sandoval, the committee issued recommendations on sports betting, daily fantasy sports, esports and marijuana sales and how they relate to gaming. Current Governor Steve Sisolak has yet to use the committee.
In May, the GCB postponed a workshop that was to consider online gaming and a change from the in-person requirement for sports betting in the state. The board said it wanted to wait until the state legislature ended in June, but the workshop has still not been rescheduled.
