The Nevada Gaming Control Board will consider revisions to 10 Technical Standards for Gaming Devices and Associated Equipment at its next meeting on 7 October, covering areas including slot systems, cashless wagering accounts, race and sportsbooks.
The draft proposals, dated between June and August, were compiled for licensees on 4 September. Interested parties can submit comments before the hearing until 5 October.
The changes vary in scope. Proposed amendments to Standard 9, covering digital parimutuel systems, largely involve additions, while Standard 3, covering slot metering systems, would see entire sections added and removed. Explanatory notes accompany many of the proposed edits.
Consolidating technical requirements
Jeremy Eberwein, chief of the board’s Technology Division, said the revisions were prioritised to bring the proposals forward for consultation and update Nevada’s technical framework.
“We finally got to a point where we said, you know what, let’s drop all our other efforts right now and get these over the finish line and get them up for comment so that we can make sure that we’re current with things,” Eberwein said.
Much of the work has focused on gathering and codifying technical requirements in one place. Some requirements were already contained in the Technical Standards, while others sat within the state’s Minimum Internal Control Standards, which combine technical and procedural provisions.
The board wants licensees to be able to find technical information in a single definitive source rather than search across multiple libraries. Many of the explanatory notes refer to requirements adapted from the Minimum Internal Control Standards and other materials.
Eberwein said the work had been developed intermittently over several years. “We had various iterations of the drafts internally probably going back at least a decade, and just never made it to the finish line for various reasons,” he said.
The proposals are intended to be close to final, although stakeholders may submit changes during the consultation period or at the hearing. Depending on the feedback received and any objections from the Nevada Gaming Commission, the revised standards could be adopted and published by the end of the year.
Modernisation agenda
The changes come during a busy period for the board. Since the beginning of 2025, it has issued five multimillion-dollar anti-money laundering fines to entities on the Las Vegas Strip. Four cases involving Resorts World Las Vegas, MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment and the Venetian concerned AML violations linked to illegal bookmaker Mathew Bowyer, who was placed on the state’s exclusion list in April.
A separate case involved Wynn Las Vegas, which forfeited $130 million to the federal government. Federal prosecutors described the payment as believed to be the largest forfeiture by a casino based on admissions of criminal wrongdoing.
The board is also revising rules covering gaming salons and AML reporting. Mike Dreitzer, who became NGCB Chair last June, is the fifth chair to take office since 2019. His inherited partial term runs through January 2027, and he has said he would be interested in a full four-year term.
Dreitzer has experience with suppliers and testing labs. “When I started here, I had multiple conversations with various licensees who operate across multiple jurisdictions, and the consistent commentary I heard was that they would go to Nevada last, if not never at all, because there was concern about the time it would take, the lack of regulatory consistency, the lack of clarity,” he said. “So when I came in, in view of the mandate from the governor and the work began by Chair Hendrick, I felt I needed to do something.”
