Brief: Regulators fine tune new rules

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 1998 | 4:13 a.m.

The changes, designed to combat messenger betting, prohibit the use of cell phones and pagers in books and limit money laundering through stricter transaction reporting requirements, among other proposals, have been debated and discussed at a number of recent special gaming commission meetings. They are scheduled to be adopted at a special telephonic commission meeting Monday.

Much of the discussion at Tuesday's meeting again centered around banning the use of special promotional wagers to attract high-roller betters. While the industry says promotional wagers are necessary to keep high-wager betters in Nevada books, Gaming Control Board officials say they are simply a veiled attempt to illegally circumvent a recent state law banning books from offering rebates to their best customers.

If passed, the regulations will reduce book wagering by 10 to 20 percent, officials say. But Gaming Control Board officials argue the books will break even, because they now give that 10 to 20 percent back to gamblers in the form of illegal rebates.

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