Gamblers headed to Las Vegas will soon be able to open a new account with a casino remotely. The news is the result of a regulatory change approved by the Nevada Gaming Commission.
In practice, the new policy will essentially allow Nevada casinos to take advantage of the remote onboarding services that have become increasingly common in other sectors in the past few years. Interested gamers will be able to use a mobile app to begin the account registration process before they get to the casino, and then start playing more quickly when they hit the floor. To prevent fraud, players will need to present an ID to casino staff to complete the process when they arrive, though doing so will take much less time than filling in a paper registration form.
From there, players can add funds to their cashless account through their mobile device, and access those funds using their casino card. Those casino cards can be used to gamble, or to purchase meals and other goods at stores and restaurants associated with the venue.
“We balance the need for intense integrity in some of these processes with the ongoing need to stay modern in our technological offerings to the consumers as they come into our state and our facilities,” said Gaming Commissioner Ben Kieckhefer. “I think this goes in a positive direction of supporting whatever the consumer wants while maintaining the integrity.”
The new regulations do not allow online gaming, and are instead intended to make the in-person experience more convenient. They also do not cover sports betting, which means that people will still need to show up in-person to place bets on athletic competitions. Digital onboarding technology has been used to enable online gaming in other jurisdictions.
The state attorney general’s office has assured the Nevada Gaming Commission that the proposed changes are compliant with federal anti-money laundering legislation. Remote onboarding systems are expected to debut by March, while the policy itself was backed by Sightline Payments, a payment processor that gained Commission approval back in 2013.
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