GAMING LAWYERS JOIN DICKINSON WRIGHT'S LAS VEGAS OFFICE
Dickinson Wright has expanded its Las Vegas presence with the addition of three gaming practice lawyers and five additional lawyers focusing on commercial litigation, probate, trusts and estates. With a total of 14 lawyers on site, Dickinson Wright has a full-service presence in Nevada that is supported by over 375 lawyers providing legal expertise in over 40 practice areas.
Dickinson Wright's Gaming Practice Group is pleased to announce that Kate Lowenhar-Fisher, Jennifer Gaynor and Greg Gemignani have joined the firm's gaming practice in the Las Vegas office.
Kate Lowenhar-Fisher frequently represents businesses and individuals before the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the Nevada Gaming Commission and has extensive experience counseling clients in all aspects of gaming law and regulation, including Internet gaming, social gaming, fantasy sports and online promotions, as well as liquor licensing. Kate also practices before the Clark County Liquor and Gaming Licensing Board and the Las Vegas City Council. Kate is licensed to practice law in both Nevada and California.
Jennifer Gaynor specializes in government relations, with a particular focus on gaming issues. She is a full-time resident of Carson City while the Nevada legislature is in session. When the legislature is not in session, Jennifer focuses on gaming industry-specific issues, including licensing, findings of suitability, employee registration, advertising, the manufacture and shipment of gaming equipment, charitable gaming, online promotions, taxation and special events.
Greg Gemignani counsels domestic and international gaming clients on regulatory and intellectual property issues. His background in systems engineering and systems architecture enables him to stand in the forefront of representing clients on matters relating to gaming technology systems, interactive gaming and intellectual property protection, including social gaming, online contests, fantasy sports, pari-mutuel wagering, sports wagering and sweepstakes.
The Las Vegas office is a full-service office that includes expertise in commercial litigation, government relations, intellectual property, real estate, liquor licensing, probate, trusts and estates, tax and corporate, as well as all aspects of gaming law and regulation.
Dickinson Wright has offices in six states (Nevada, Arizona, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan), the District of Columbia and Toronto, Canada. The firm also has cooperation agreements with independent law firms with gaming and commercial law expertise located in Macau, Malta, Peru and Bulgaria.
NEVADA LEGISLATURE TO CONSIDER MULTIPLE GAMING BILLS
by Kate Lowenhar-Fisher, Jennifer Gaynor and Greg Gemignani
The 78th Session of the Nevada Legislature began on February 2, 2015. Regular sessions of the Nevada Legislature are held biennially in odd-numbered years. As of the date of this article, the following bills related to gaming have been introduced:
Assembly Bill 40 provides that certain actions and proceedings of the Gaming Control Board are not subject to certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law.
Senate Bill 9 requires the Nevada Gaming Commission to adopt regulations that encourage manufacturers to develop and deploy gaming devices that incorporate innovative, alternative and advanced technology.
Senate Bill 38 imposes licensing requirements on manufacturers and distributors of associated equipment. This bill removes the licensing requirement for cash access and wagering instrument service providers and providers of certain intellectual property or information via a database or customer list. The bill also repeals the provisions authorizing the Commission to license manufacturers of equipment associated with interactive gaming.
Senate Bill 40 expressly criminalizes unlicensed sports book activities and providing assistance to unlicensed sports books to provide a clear predicate offense for federal law prosecutions.
Senate Bill 98 amends Nevada's public policy concerning the gaming industry by adding that the purpose of the gaming industry is to generate revenue and create jobs for the inhabitants of Nevada.
Senate Bill 124 authorizes the Board to allow a licensee to move the location of its establishment and transfer its nonrestricted license to a location within one mile of the existing location if the move is necessary because the existing location of the establishment is adjacent to a military installation and has been designated by the Federal Government as necessary for the expansion of the military installation.
There are additional Bill Draft Requests ("BDRs") related to gaming that have not yet been introduced as written bills, including BDR 83, which creates "slot parlors" as a new category of gaming license for operators with 15 or fewer machines whose primary business is gaming, increases the tax rate for slot parlors to 15% and makes various other changes related to gaming.
Editor's Note:
As some of you have noted, there was a hiatus in our newsletters. A brief explanation is in order. The Canadian Parliament adopted legislation last year that prohibited emailing materials like our newsletter to Canadians without first receiving their consent. This required us to cleanse our email list of all Canadian recipients pending receiving such consents. The cleansing process was, to say the least, laborious given the size of our recipient list and the fact that the email addresses were not broken down to identify Canadian recipients. We are happy to report that we are now back on track for publishing a newsletter three times a month.
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