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Gaming Control Board wins committee approval for AB 58 to streamline tech approvals and remove duplicative registrations
Summary
AB 58, sponsored by the Nevada Gaming Control Board, would streamline administrative approval of new games and gaming devices, remove outdated registration categories for cash-access providers, and simplify statutory definitions. The Senate Judiciary Committee amended and moved the bill unanimously in a work session.
The Senate Judiciary Committee amended and advanced Assembly Bill 58 after a presentation from the Nevada Gaming Control Board and allied industry representatives. AB 58 would revise provisions in chapters 463 and 465 of the Nevada Revised Statutes to streamline regulatory processes for technology used by Nevada’s gaming industry and to modernize statutory language.
Kirk Hendrick, chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, told the committee AB 58 “make[s] minor changes to chapters 463 and 465 of the Nevada Revised Statutes. The revisions will more efficiently provide for technology processes that are essential to Nevada's gaming industry.” Hendrick said the bill and its draft amendment group “technology related matters into 1 bill” to reflect contemporary hardware and live-game innovations.
Senior policy counsel Sebastian Ross detailed the bill’s technology sections. Ross said sections 2 and 6 would permit administrative approval of new games and gaming devices — moving some approvals from the Nevada Gaming Commission to administrative approvals by the board. Ross told the committee that new games typically number six to eight per year and new gaming devices one to three per year, and that approvals now take three to six months; he said board-to-commission processing can add roughly 50 to 60 days to that timeline. “Administrative approval will facilitate quicker deployment of new games and gaming devices,” Ross said, while stressing that products would still be tested by independent labs and undergo field trials when necessary.
Ross explained other technical clarifications in the bill: removing the terms “cash access and wagering instrument service provider” (entities that provide ticket-in/ticket-out or automated teller devices) from statute, and striking duplicative statutory terms such as “system based and system supported games.” He said those providers already register as associated equipment manufacturers and are reviewed as such.
AB 58 also clarifies language about risk management services and the relationship between licensed information services and race book and sports pool operators, changes described as conforming updates tied to the expansion of sports wagering.
Virginia Valentine of the Nevada Resort Association testified in support of the bill and of a friendly amendment clarifying the meaning of an indoor 2,800-square-foot area in the restricted-location language inherited from a 2013 law. The committee moved the amendment and then voted unanimously to amend and do pass AB 58; Vice Chair Flores was assigned the floor statement.
What the bill would change: - Allow the Gaming Control Board to administratively approve new live games and gaming devices to shorten review timelines while preserving independent lab and field testing requirements. - Remove duplicative or outdated statutory terms (for example, cash access and wagering instrument service providers; system based/system supported games). - Clarify language in chapters 463 and 465 regarding risk management, information services, and race book/sports pool terminology.
Committee action: motion to amend and do pass AB 58; unanimous voice vote of members present. The bill will receive a floor statement as assigned by the committee chair.
