Come on down, Nelson Rose!
One of the world’s leading authorities on gambling law, professor Nelson Rose of Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, California, has forecasted the future of gambling law and it is to be led by the long arm of Nevada.
Rose is an internationally known public speaker, scholar and writer of over 300 books, chapters, columns and articles for a total of over 1,000 published works. He is best known for his internationally syndicated column “Gambling and the Law,” and his latest book is entitled Internet Gaming Law. Rose has also presented scholarly papers worldwide and has taught for the FBI and at universities in Nevada, Macau, Slovenia, France, Spain and China. He has created the first law school class on gaming law at the Whittier Law School in California.
When asked what he believed was in the future of the Industry of online gambling in the U.S. and Canada, Rose stated that,
“The U.S., and to a lesser extent Canada, have gotten themselves isolated from the rest of the world. Almost no one in Congress cares about Internet gambling, with two extremely important exceptions: Barney Frank, a very powerful member of the House, and Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the Senate, who represents Nevada. I think this unusual political coincidence, combined with having a Democratic president who won't veto a bill from the Democratic Congress, means that the federal government will be getting out of the prohibition business and will be going back to the traditional rule that gambling is a state issue and the states can decide for themselves whether they want to allow their residents to bet online.”
As a graduate of Harvard Law and working with a number of governments and industries to educate and teach others about the delicate web of gambling law, Rose has much to say not necessarily as an advocate or opponent of gambling, but as an observer and scholar. Professor Nelson speaks about the Frank Bill and the much more involved Menendez Bill proposed by New Jersey senator, Robert Menendez. In an excerpt from a recent interview, Rose says,
“All the proposals share the same general structure: They appear to be establishing a federal licensing and regulatory system, when they will actually be turning power over to the states, particularly Nevada. True, the U.S. Treasury will be issuing the actual licenses and will be regulating some of the operators. But both the Menendez and Frank bills make it clear that states and tribes can apply to be given the power to certify and regulate applicants, and the Treasury has only 60 days to determine whether it will grant that power.”
According to Rose, the Menendez Bill is a better attempt at regulating internet gambling on a statewide level. Rose tells of what kind of future lies ahead for these different industries depending on which bill passes. He concludes that, “What shape gaming takes depends on whether Menendez or Frank prevail. Both make it clear that there will never be sports betting, and that horse racing is already legal. But Frank’s bills would also allow online casinos, bingo and lotteries. Menendez defines gaming as “an Internet-based game in which success is predominantly determined by the skill of the players, including poker, chess, bridge, mahjong and backgammon.”
These bills are definite advances to getting the power of internet gambling into the hands of the state’s authority. Rose’s projection on which bill will take the lead depends on the Majority Leader in the Senate, Senator Harry Reid (D.-Nev). Rose believes that whatever the Nevada casinos ultimately want is where the roads of internet gambling are going, and in this modern-day regime, that means Vegas.--written by Natalie Jaro