Status of Casino Malaysia Gambling Laws in the U.S.
The following are American jurisdictions having recent activity concerning legal gambling.
* – States and territories with gaming devices are marked with an asterisk: *
! – States with at least one casino (defined as having both banking card games and slot-like machines) are marked with an exclamation point: !
* MONTANA – An “anti” has launched an initiative to prohibit video gambling machines. A plan for slots in historic buildings was quickly killed. Religious activists failed in their attempt to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the Nov. 2000 ballot, which would have outlawed all gambling. They needed only 39,724 signatures, but they could not get even half that number. Tribes were in a quandary, because some believed they alone would have been allowed to continue. At present the state has more than 16,000 video gaming machines, in more than 1,600 premises; interestingly, more video keno than video poker; up to 20 devices per location; maximum wager – $2; maximum payout – $800. Six tribes have compacts, allowing each to have 100 video gambling machines with $1,000 payouts, but no banking card games; two other tribes have not signed. State law allows a dozen forms of gambling, including card clubs, sports pools, Calcutta pools and fantasy sports leagues.
!* NEBRASKA – Sen. DiAnna Schimek has introduced a bill to put a state constitutional amendment on the 2002 ballot allowing casino gambling on Indian reservations. The Santee Sioux’s lawsuit against the state was dismissed following Seminole. The tribe opened a casino anyway. A U.S. trial judge ordered the tribe to pay a $6,000/day fine — the tribe pulled its pull-tab machines in June 2001, after the fines totaled $4.6 million. Casino initiatives did not make the Nov. 1996 ballot, because many signatures were from people who were dead.
!* NEVADA – The Legislature and Casino Malaysia Governor gave the Gaming Control Board power to decide whether Nevada licensees can open Internet casinos. The tax would be 6.25% (same as real casinos) plus a fee of $1 million for two years. A bill to create a State Lottery, with tickets sold only in casinos, failed. But Las Vegas casinos introduced a keno-lottery game with progressive jackpots, despite lotteries being prohibited by the state constitution. Casinos can now open private salons for high-rollers. The Board promulgated regulations against kiddie-themed slots. One of the first to pass, with restrictions, was IGT’s “Addams Family” slots. A bill has been introduced to require casinos to pay slot jackpots, even when the symbols lined up due to a malfunction. In a P.R. move, the state lifted the ban on betting on local sports teams. Regulators have proposed putting a $550 cap on bets on college sports; there are 150+ licensed sports books. Federal Judge Philip Pro and the State Supreme Court ruled unpaid casino markers are checks under Nevada’s criminal bad checks law. In 2000, casinos won $9.6 billion, more than $5 billion from slot machines. For the first time anywhere in Nevada, gaming brought in less than half of total revenue on the Las Vegas Strip. There are approximately 200,000 slots in the state; most are in the approximately 243 casinos. The Nevada Gaming Commission now limits new “restricted licenses” (15 slots machines maximum) to convenience stores, supermarkets, drugstores and bars. State Sen. Joe Neal failed to raise the gross gaming tax on the largest casinos from 6.25%, the lowest in the country.
