Nevada Bill Would Create List Of Online Cheaters

Assembly Bill 380 in Nevada is designed to bring transparency to the state’s underwhelming online gambling scene. This piece of legislation, AB380, mandates the creation of a registry for online cheaters, akin to Nevada’s “Black Book.”

Sara Cholhagian Ralston, a professional poker player, and Steve Yeager, the Assembly Speaker from Las Vegas (D), crafted the AB380 bill. The bill demands that the Nevada Gaming Commission keep a public record of online gambling players who have been suspended or banned due to dishonest practices. Currently, this information is not accessible to the public.

Since Nevada only has one online gambling operator at present, the full responsibility of creating the list would be on Caesars, the operator of the World Series of Poker online room.

Providing names for cheater list would fall exclusively on Caesars

Online gambling in Nevada includes poker and sports betting. The law that legalized online poker likely intentionally excluded online casinos. As of now, the only website offering real-money, online poker in Nevada is Caesars’ WSOP room.

Currently, the List of Excluded Persons for physical casinos has 37 names on it. This list, also referred to as the Black Book, was established in 1960. Similar to the purpose of the Black Book, AB380 aims to safeguard both operators and the public from recognized cheaters. The bill mandates the Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) to manage the list.

“This bill mandates the Commission to enact regulations for creating a list of individuals suspended or banned from an interactive gaming system due to cheating.”

The notion is straightforward, but the responsibility of assigning names to the list is up to online casino operators. At present, Caesars is the sole company in Nevada with an online gaming platform. Thus, it would be the only company tasked with the following duties:

Mandate each authorized operator of an interactive gaming system in this State to send the Nevada Gaming Control Board the account name, full name, and date of birth of anyone who has been suspended or banned from the interactive gaming system for dishonest play.

Caesars says AB380 would bring lawsuits against the company

At a meeting to discuss AB380, Mike Alonso, a lobbyist for Caesars, expressed to Assembly Judicial Committee representatives that the company is staunchly opposed to the bill.

“[It] will only result in costly and onerous lawsuits either for defamation or from players seeking compensation, believing they lost money to a supposed cheater.”

Alonso stated that the bill would transform Caesars into legal enforcers.

“We collaborate with them, fulfilling our obligations through reports, but we don’t decide on the cheating issue. They are a law enforcement agency and have a specific procedure to follow.”

Assemblyman Ken Gray concurred with Alonso. He was worried that a list could potentially publicly humiliate those suspected of cheating without any supporting evidence.

AB380 would place the responsibility of identifying online cheaters on operators. Meanwhile, the Black Book is used by gaming regulators to identify cheaters in retail casinos.

BetMGM still mum on whether it will add online poker room in Nevada

Rumors have been circulating for over a year about BetMGM opening an online poker room in Nevada. However, this has not yet occurred.

When PlayNevada inquired if BetMGM has plans to introduce a new online poker room in Nevada, they responded with a “no comment.”

Recently, the NGC granted BetMGM its 13th waiver to initiate an online poker room.