Gambling to go wireless in Nevada

updated 8:03 a.m. ET Aug. 2, 2005

CARSON CITY, Nev. - It won't be long before gamblers are shooting dice while queued up waiting to see their favorite comedian. Or playing poker and roulette under a poolside umbrella. Even a trip to the buffet will no longer keep casino patrons from playing slots. A law signed last month by Gov. Kenny Guinn made Nevada the first U.S. state to approve the use of wireless, handheld gambling devices at its hotel-casinos.

It's a small step forward for casino companies aching to offer Internet-based gambling who are watching offshore competitors reap huge profits from a business that federal law bars them from entering,

"I think every major casino company wants to get into online gaming but without access to the U.S. market it becomes a costly venture," said Deutsche Bank gambling analyst Marc Falcone

The gadgets, Falcone said, are the "first step in a long process."

The restrictions, for one, are plenty:

Under the law, the devices can be used only in public areas of casinos that have 100 or more slot machines and that offer at least one other gambling game. The devices would be barred from hotel rooms and other private areas.

And they won't be available overnight.

Dennis Neilander, the State Gaming Control Board chairman, says it will be several months to a year before regulators set rules for using the handhelds.

One force behind the bill is Cantor Fitzgerald LP, the New York-based financial services company that suffered mightily in the 2001 attacks and is seeking to retreat for the gambling industry the technology that powers its interactive bond-trading.

Another backer was Louisiana-based Diamond I Inc., which has developed its own device.

"The tech-savvy generation, the late baby boomers and the next generation all grew up with a Nintendo in their hands. Everyone has a PDA," said David Loflin, president of Diamond I Inc. "This is an extension of that."

The world's No. 1 slot machine maker, Reno-based International Game Technology, also pushed for legalizing the wireless gambling.

"Nevada is the first state to have a bill to allow this. Once Nevada does it, you'll see the New Jerseys and the Mississippis do the same thing," Loflin predicted.

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