Lawmakers tweak policy on gaming applicants
By Richard N. Velotta, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Late in the recently concluded Nevada legislative session, lawmakers revisited and modified policy from an era of our state’s storied gambling past.
And by all accounts, it’s a positive step for the state and the industry.
In the 1940s and ’50s, gaming flourished in Nevada, thanks, in part, to the gangster element that ran the casinos.
The Gaming Control Act, which included policies designed to drum out the criminal element, was approved by the Nevada Legislature in 1959. One of the key features was a system that enabled the three-member state Gaming Control Board to make recommendations on all aspects of gaming license applicants. The board’s recommendations would go to the five-member Nevada Gaming Commission for final consideration.