Gambling in Nevada – Best Gambling Sites and Legal Status

In 1931, Nevada became the first state to legalize casino gaming. Since then, they’ve built a massive gambling empire that features over 320 casinos across the state.

This means that you’ll never have to look far when searching for a gaming option in the Silver State.

But even Nevada has its limits because they’re one of only five states that doesn’t have a lottery. And while pari-mutuel wagering is legal in Nevada, they don’t have any active racetracks.

We also found some antiquated language in the state criminal code that spells out problems for law-abiding gamblers.We’ll discuss this in the Legal Status section, but let’s first review Nevada’s gambling industry.

While more and more states are offering legal casinos, none come close to generating the same kind of gambling revenue that Nevada does.

Casinos across the state haul in over $11 billion per year from gambling alone. According to UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research, almost $6.4 billion of this amount comes from the Las Vegas Strip.

Nevada’s other big sources of gambling revenue are as follows:

Nevada has one of the lowest gambling tax rates in the world. They levy a 6.75% tax on gaming revenue, along with another 1% in fees (7.75% total).

Due to this ultra-low tax rate, Nevada earns less tax revenue that other states like Pennsylvania and Indiana, which generate far less gaming revenue.

But the Silver State also collects another $2 billion on resort taxes and fees, meaning casino resorts generate over $2.8 billion in annual tax money. And this doesn’t even begin to measure the impact of casinos employing 170,000 people throughout the state.

Nevada Gambling Stats & Key Info

Age Requirements

21

Approximate Annual Gambling Revenue

$11.1 billion

Approximate Annual Gambling Taxes

$860 million

Number of Commercial Casinos

324

Number of Rancinos

0

Number of Tribal Casinos

0

Casino Regulatory Body

Nevada Gaming Control Board

Lottery National Rankings

N/A

NRS 461.0152exempts social gaming from Nevada’s gambling definition with the following passage:

No state constitution offers a more clear-cut indication of social gaming’s legality than this.

The key is that the host or person operating the game doesn’t profit in any way, including serving food and drinks.

Nevada is one of only four states where sports betting is legal. And they’re the only state that offers full-blown sports wagering.

Nevada was grandfathered into the Professional Sports and Amateur Protection Act (PASPA) in 1992, which bans sports betting on a federal level. Given that the Silver State already featured sportsbooks, they were allowed to continue doing so.

The only other American state that currently offers sports betting is Delaware, which is limited to NFL parlays. Meanwhile, Nevada has full-service sportsbooks that offer action on a wide range of sports and bets.

Nevada sportsbooks handle $4 billion in annual bets, winning over $220 million of this amount.

A little-known fact about Nevada’s gaming industry is that they also feature two tribal casinos. These include the Avi Resort and Snow Mountain Smoke Shop.

Both casinos are on native reservations, and they don’t have to pay taxes to the Nevada government. But the downside is that these casinos must deal with intense competition from numerous commercial gaming venues.

Just like Nevada was the first state to legalize casinos, they’re also the first to legalize online poker.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board approved regulated internet poker in December, 2011, while the state House and Senate passed the bill in February 2013.

Ultimate Poker was the first site into the market, launching in April 2013. But they didn’t experience much success and shut down their poker site in November 2014.

WSOP.com is the most-successful poker site in Nevada, averaging around 200 cash game players per hour. Real Gaming is the only other option, but their traffic has been nonexistent ever since they opened in late 2014.

Success has been limited for Nevada’s online poker market. Despite nearly 40 million tourists visiting Las Vegas every year, their iPoker operation only made $11 million in 2014.

After this, Nevada announced that they’ll no longer release revenue reports until they have 3 operators.

One weakness to the state’s online gaming market is that you can only play poker. The state chose to experiment with internet poker first, while there’s no word on if online casino games will be legalized.

At the time of this writing, Nevadans only options for iGaming include the WSOP.com and Real Gaming poker rooms.

In February 2014, Delaware Gov. Jack Markell and Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed an interstate online poker pact. Taking effect in March 2015, the deal sees both states share their internet poker pools to increase liquidity.

This was a necessary move by both states due to their small populations and lower-than-expected poker traffic. The network isn’t thriving, but it’s producing better results than what was seen prior to the compact.

Since 1975, almost 30 attempts have been made to legalize a lottery in Nevada. And every attempt has failed up to this point.

As the Las Vegas Review-Journal points out, the main reason is because the casino industry is staunchly against adding more competition. Nevadans must drive to neighboring states like California and Arizona to purchase lottery tickets.

Assemblyman Harvey Munford attempted to change this in 2015, proposing a bill to legalize the lottery. While his legislation received praise from both the house and senate, it never got a committee vote.

“There is no question but that the gaming people put pressure on leadership to kill it,” said Munford.

Nevada was hit hard by the Great American Recession in the late 2000s. Tourism and gambling revenue fell during this period since Americans had less money to spend.

Las Vegas took this opportunity to transform their focus from gambling to becoming an all-around entertainment destination.

Over the past several years, Nevada resorts have put more effort into their nightclubs, restaurants, pools, shopping, and spas. Examples of these changes include:

The good news for Vegas is that these efforts have paid off. 2016 was a record year for Sin City, with 42.9 billion visitors spending $35.5 billion.

Less than 32% of this amount was spent on gambling, which is a far cry from a decade ago, when over 50% of revenue came from gaming.

While Nevada has expanded its entertainment horizons to generate revenue in different ways, casinos are still trying to crack the millennium puzzle.

Those aged 21-34 aren’t spending much on casino games, but rather putting their money towards clubbing, dining, and shopping.

Casinos are now trying to capture this demographic’s attention through skill-based gaming and eSports. Most millennials aren’t interested in house-banked games, so skill-based games could further entice them.

These efforts are in their beginning stages, and it’ll be a while before we know how successful they are.

No. The only internet gaming options you have in the Silver State include their licensed poker sites.

Nevada’s constitution has two different sections that address the illegality of online gaming. The first comes from NRS 465.093 (a), which discusses using devices to bet outside of Nevada:

NRS 463.016425 explains how it’s illegal to send or receive money from gaming sites:

In short, you should avoid placing any bets outside of the regulated online poker sites that Nevada offers.

Generally, you’ll find the best casino odds off the Vegas Strip, including the downtown area and North Las Vegas.

These areas are less visited than the Strip because they don’t have the same lavish resorts and amenities. This means you can find lower stakes and better odds at many downtown and North Vegas casinos.

Here are some examples of what you’ll find away from the Strip:

1909Nevada bans all forms of gambling

1931Assembly Bill 98 legalizes casino gaming in Nevada

1931Reno’s Bank Club offers first legal gaming in Nevada

1931Northern Club issued first Las Vegas casino license

1942El Rancho Vegas builds first casino-hotel resort in Vegas

1946Nevada begins collecting tax revenue on gambling

1955Nevada Gaming Control Board created

1966aesar’s Palace begins operating on Las Vegas Strip

1973MGM Grand opens on the Strip

2004Nevada casino revenue tops $10 billion

2007Nevada gaming revenue sets US record at $12.7 billion

2011Gaming Control Board passes online poker legislation

2013Ultimate Poker becomes first legal, regulated poker site in the US

2015Delaware and Nevada sign compact to share online poker player pools