Nevada Online Gaming License & Regulation Overview
10/10/2012 by Robert Szmigiel in Legal Updates
The Nevada Gaming License Requirements
Now that the Nevada online gaming jurisdiction is in full force, it’s important to know what’s involved, including all of the current updates and companies that have licenses.
As Jon Friedberg explained in his exclusive interview about getting his affiliate license, the licensing process is quite involved and requires a lot of time and money. Most applicants are mid-sized to big companies that have a team of local lawyers and on-staff consultants that work on legal jurisdictions or emerging markets.
Here’s the breakdown– in simplest form– of what you need to know.
- The Nevada State Gaming Control Board Gaming Commission stipulates that interactive gaming relates to: “Interactive gaming account” means an electronic ledger operated and maintained by an operator of interactive gaming wherein information relative to interactive gaming is recorded on behalf of an authorized player”.
- The basic steps involved during the application process for the license, are an initial ($500,000) fee and ($250,000) renewal license fees. Investigation fees apply and the interactive gaming system must be reviewed and approved by the commission. (Please note that these fees are for Operators, not Affiliates.)
- The investigation also requires and that the FBI does a search of your past activities and confirms if you do or don’t have any criminal offenses.
- There is a long list of ongoing requirements (Regulation 5A) that the licensed operator must abide by and prove they have the ability to maintain like: Internal controls, crime prevention, access to records, establish house rules, registration of authorized players, maintain interactive gaming accounts, cash reserve requirements, progressive payoff schedules, provide information on the company web site and adhere to specific advertising practices.
- A Nevada licensed affiliate should make sure that any operator they’re promoting complies with the non-deceptive advertising and promotions code that includes any promotion related to interactive gaming shall clearly and concisely explain the terms of the promotion and adhere to such terms.
- Furthermore, operators must provide respective information on their web sites pertaining to problem gambling and that no person will be allowed to gamble online under the age of 21. This includes active links for information on problem gambling and to the state gambling control board.
- There is a lot of interest from companies to get a license and the demand remains high. To date there have been a total of over 32 licenses awarded and they include 11 operators, 17 manufacturers, and 24 service providers. The most recent are NRT, WMS, South Point Poker LLC, Global Cash Access Holdings Inc., Aristocrat, William Hill, Bally Technologies Inc. and Shuffle Master Inc., of Las Vegas, including IGT and Monarch Interactive Inc.
Tags: Gaming License, Internet Gambling Laws, Nevada
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Affiliates have to pay a $500,000 fee????
Seriously? Maybe the Casinos can pay that, but surely there must be a different fee structure for small websites which are advertising for these folks?
The $500K and the $250K are fees which operators must pay, not affiliates, termed service providers under the legislation. Once licensed, the renewal fee is only a grand a year for us, but for affiliates the registration fee is only a small tip compared to what we are faced with enduring in the application process, both in time and expenses. So in the end we end up at the same place, which is turning which is famously easy to enter into into one which is absurdly difficult.
So it’s still the case that only larger operations need apply, and this shuts out the grass roots average affiliate who doesn’t have 5 figures to throw at this with no real assurance of even getting licensed, let alone making their investment back.
Affiliate applicants must provide a check for $3,000 that includes covering the investigation fees. Some of the other details that must be provided in the investigation process are criminal background checks as well as bank statements, tax returns, birth certificate, real estate transactions, business documents, release forms, power of attorney forms, and waiver of rights forms.
I would hope that there would be a way for programs like CAP and PokerAffiliateWorld to broker deals on a subcontracting model for leads…similar to what already exists for rakeback sites, for example.
Hi scared money,
Stay tuned for CAP to make some big changes to the way we work with affiliates! http://casinoaffiliateprograms.com/invite/
Thanks!
Michaela
Seriously, the scare tactic in the quoted figure and in the email sent for this story is nonsense. $500K +$250K ???
More like $500 + $2,500., plus additional fees as needed. While it is accurate that the total cost will be more than that initial $3,000, the rest of the quoted figure is nonsense. I am VERY familiar with the process in Nevada, spoke on it last wek at BAC.
FWIW, I walked over to the CAP meeting room at BAC several times on Friday and Saturday, but never saw anyone actually in there, so was unable to give anyone there real insights.
Hi David,
Thank you for the email. I will be responding directly to you via email.
best,
Michaela
Yes, this article was written mainly to provide information on the Nevada online gaming licensing process for operators and all that is involved.