Friday, November 19, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Gaming Commission rejects plan for wireless cash access

The Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday rejected a request to test wireless cash access devices within the state's casinos.

A similar plea by Las Vegas' Mikohn Gaming Corp. and a Minnesota company called Cash Systems was denied earlier this month by the Gaming Control Board. Members there worried the devices might contribute to problem gaming.

The companies on Thursday lobbied the commission to OK a limited test evaluated by professor Howard Shaffer, director of the Division on Addictions at Harvard Medical School. Still, several board members said the device was too similar to in-machine credit and debit scanners already prohibited by state law.

"All you're doing for the problem gambler is making it possible for them to sit at a machine and get all the money they need," Commissioner Arthur Marshall told the companies.

Commission Chairman Peter Bernhard suggested Mikohn and Cash Systems test the devices at several Indian casinos where they are already in use, or seek relief before the Legislature when it reconvenes next year.

Mikohn Executive Vice President Mike Dreitzer said tests will occur at Indian casinos, the results of which he hopes to later present before the Gaming Control Board.

The commission also upheld the control board's Nov. 3 decision to allow Caesars Palace and Mandalay Bay to continue operating private gaming salons.

Commission members expressed disappointment that the two casinos' exclusive, high-end gaming areas have so far lured only one new customer to the state. But they unanimously agreed regulations governing the salons have proven effective. Coupled with added promotional efforts by the casinos, that might someday make private gaming profitable in Nevada.

"I believe the licensees should have all of the marketing tools they can" to compete against other gaming jurisdictions, Commissioner Radha Chanderraj said.