The Select Committee on Gaming heard an update on proposals to create a central monitoring system (CMS) to monitor online sports wagering, skill-based amusement games and simulcast/HHR devices, and discussed legal, technical and cost constraints around procurement.

Nick, director of the Wyoming Gaming Commission, told the committee the commission’s rules allow the agency to procure a CMS for skill-based amusement games and that, if procured, vendors would have six months to connect. "If the commission ultimately procures some sort of a system like that, the vendors have 6 months to, connect to that system," the director said.

The director said the commission already has varying levels of access today: the commission can log into manufacturer systems for many skill games and currently can see about "90% of the skill games in the market" through vendors’ manufacturer dashboards. On July 15 the commission was given real-time access to a system developed by its third-party auditor, the Thoroughbred Racing Protection Bureau (TRPB), that provides real-time HHR reporting, the director said.

The committee heard that a 2023 request for proposals seeking a single CMS covering all regulated products received no responses. Staff then explored sole-source options and received one quote for a product that would cover skill games, HHR and online wagering; the quoted cost was "well in excess of $2,000,000 a year," which the director said was not cost-effective. Committee members pressed whether the commission could shift those monitoring costs to vendors; the director said current rule and statute restrict what licensing fees the commission can charge and the commission is "currently restrained" from charging vendors for this monitoring.

Karen Vaughn, legislative editor and associate fiscal analyst with the Legislative Service Office (LSO), briefed the committee on a bill draft the Select Committee on Capital Financing and Investments is developing. She said that draft would require online sports wagering systems, skill-based amusement games and all simulcast devices to be connected to a central monitoring system and would give the Gaming Commission authority to promulgate rules and to disable machines that are not in compliance. "It requires the Gaming Commission to have a system that does several things, first of which is to provide continuous monitoring of all gaming machines, to have the ability to disable operation and play of any machine that's not in compliance with the law," Vaughn said. The Select Committee on Capital Financing and Investments voted on June 12 to direct staff to develop four bill drafts related to gaming; one of those addresses central monitoring and will be revisited at that committee’s September meeting.

Committee members asked technical questions about vendor platforms. The director said manufacturers vary widely: some skill-game platforms are built on class‑3 gaming platforms, while some (for example, Pace-O-Matic) are proprietary. The committee also reviewed the commission’s current third‑party auditing contract for HHR data; the director said the TRPB contract costs about $24,000 per year for third-party auditing of HHR activity.

Members agreed to watch how other interim committees and LSO finalize draft language before the task force pursues additional action. LSO staff and commission staff said they will continue vendor outreach and efforts to identify cost‑effective technical approaches while the bill drafts proceed in other committees.