The question of lowering the gambling age was raised in 2008, as the recession ravaged the casino industry in Las Vegas, by a state gaming lawyer during a question and answer session with gaming regulators.<\/p>\n
Attorney Tom Smock said that in the tribal casinos of California and Arizona, as well as international gaming destinations, such as Canada, Mexico, Europe and Australia, the legal age to gamble was 18, and that if Nevada were to continue to compete internationally, it should reconsider its stance.<\/p>\n
“We ought to look beyond cutting costs and we ought to look at how we can drive additional revenue,\u201d Smock said. \u201cAnd one way is to increase the player base.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Regulators promised to give the idea \u201cintense scrutiny\u201d and to take it up with the majority leaders of both houses, but lawmakers quickly dismissed the idea.<\/p>\n
Booze Still Out of Bounds<\/h2>\n The legal age in Nevada has been 21 ever since the state legalized gambling in 1931. Its Nevada Revised Statuses says that those aged below 21 years shall not \u201cplay, be allowed to play, place wagers at, or collect winnings from, whether personally or through an agent, any gambling game, slot machine, race book, sports pool or pari-mutuel operator; loiter, or be permitted to loiter, in or about any room or premises wherein any licensed game, race book, sports pool or pari-mutuel wagering is operated or conducted or be employed as a gaming employee except in a counting room.\u201d<\/p>\n
Broadly speaking, Wheeler\u2019s bill crosses out the numbers \u201c21\u201d wherever they appear in existing law and replaces them with \u201c18,\u201d although it also reinforces that anyone under the age of 21 attempting to purchase alcohol in a casino is breaking the law.<\/p>\n
“Obviously, an 18-year-old is not allowed to drink in this state,” Wheeler said in July. “So, they would have to check IDs but they’re probably doing that anyway, to make sure they’re of gambling age.”<\/p>\n
We’re not so sure about that latter statement, having been in a Nevada casino or 50 ourselves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Legislation to lower the legal age of gambling in Nevada from 21 to 18 was presented to the state legislature Monday by Assemblyman Jim Wheeler (R-Gardnerville). Wheeler announced his intention to push for a change to the limit when he submitted a bill draft request (BDR) last July. He said then he believed that \u201cif […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":44799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,13,18,61],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Nevada Bill Would Reduce Legal Gambling Age to 18<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n