UNLV Students Work to Propose New Gaming Legislation in Nevada

With Professor Becky Harris (LLM, 2016) gaming students in UNLV’s Gaming Law and Policy course worked to propose legislative changes in Bill AB 405, which was signed into law by Nevada Governor Sisolak.

In the Gaming Law and Policy course, Professor Harris reached out to several gaming lawyers in the field to survey gaming practitioners on current gaming issues. Of these, a handful of gaming lawyers presented their ideas to the class. According to Harris, this “gives the students a current perspective on gaming law topics from experts who work in the area on a day-to-day basis, while providing students the opportunity to look at smart changes to gaming statutes.”

From here, students picked an individual issue to research and wrote a white paper for submission to the chair of the Senate Assembly Judiciary Committee. Each student was required to reach out to 10 – 12 stakeholders to get feedback and enlist support on their proposed bill, and students were able to present their section of the bill.  “Every student got a very rich experience because they did the work, navigated the process, and developed their relationships” Harris stated. “Students get to participate in a process that not many people get to see up close and personal, and they worked the bill. They worked with the legislature and got a very valuable experience out of the course.”

The issues students worked on included legislation to criminalize match fixing by developing a standard in criminal law that required athletes, coaches, and teams to use their best efforts. Other issues include a manufacturing report amendment making the reporting process easier for technology manufacturers, clarifying global risk management issues for sportsbooks, acceptance of electronic signature for documents, and looking at renewal of finance terms.

The Gaming Law Policy Seminar is offered as a gaming law elective for the LLM and JD programs. This course focuses on the study of law relating to gaming activities with an emphasis on the law, policies, and procedures developed through legislative actions, court decisions, and regulator activities of administrative agencies. The legislature meets every other year, on off years students will work to propose regulation changes with the Nevada Gaming Control Board.