There was a single word in Gov. Joe Lombardo’s January State of the State address that particularly caught the focus of Gaming Handle Board Chairman Kirk Hendrick. 

Logjam.

In the course of the speech, Lombardo took the uncommon step of calling out the board’s testing lab, saying that “concerns have surfaced” more than the approval course of action. The governor stated new gaming goods had been getting introduced “with much more speed outdoors of Nevada,” which offers other casino states a competitive benefit in the opinion of casino operators.

“We will need to operate with the handle board to assure the logjam is cleared,” Lombardo stated.

Quickly forward two months, and the board is set to tackle the situation raised by Lombardo via a  public workshop session on Tuesday in Las Vegas, a meeting that Hendrick described as an open discussion on methods the agency can “modernize the technologies division” and effectively deal with the approval course of action in the board’s test lab.

The coming meeting at the Grant Sawyer Developing is viewed as an initial step in addressing casino sector issues raised by the governor in January more than the time it requires for Nevada to approve new slot machines and linked gaming gear, such as cashless payment technologies.

“I decided the finest way to tackle the troubles is to get everybody collectively and freely exchange tips and options,” Hendrick stated.

The workshop is anticipated to be properly-attended by representatives from the gaming sector suppliers along with Daron Dorsey, executive director of the Association of Gaming Gear Producers (AGEM), the industry’s trade organization.

“It’s been a lengthy time due to the fact anyone believed about this in Nevada,” Dorsey stated. “Imagine the speed of technologies and what gaming has carried out just in the final eight years. We want to present some info and particulars and give an overview of what it appears like at a macro level.”

In 2015, the Nevada Gaming Commission adopted various regulation modifications 4 months soon after they had been encouraged by the Legislature that had been viewed as methods to streamline the procedures. Due to the fact that time, numerous states and tribal gaming authorities produced alterations that speeded up the introduction of new gaming technologies in markets outdoors Nevada.

Following the speech, Lombardo appointed two of the 3 handle board members, Hendrick as chairman and former Las Vegas Judge George Assad. The governor also named former Lt. Gov. Brian Krolicki to the gaming commission, which tends to make the final choice on suggestions that come from the board.

Hendrick stated in an interview with The Nevada Independent final month that the governor’s use of the word “logjam” got his focus. He stated a public workshop presents a forum for the sector to propose tips on how to accelerate the course of action.

“By understanding everyone’s ambitions and objectives, I’m confident we can come across methods to much more expeditiously regulate the sector,” Hendrick stated in an e mail. “While the board really should never ever substitute successful regulation for expedited regulation, the two ambitions really should co-exist.”

Hendrick anticipates that some of the recommendations would demand alterations in regulations.

“However, I am personally seeking for tips that can be implemented a lot more quickly, devoid of the will need for new regulations,” he stated.

Jim Barbee, chief of the handle board’s technologies division for much more than a decade, declined comment on the workshop, saying he would defer to Hendrick’s remarks.

Jim Barbee, chief of the Gaming Handle Board technologies division, observes a board meeting in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Feb. eight, 2023. (Jeff Scheid/The Nevada Independent)

Alterations in 2015 brought new technologies

In October 2015, the handle board and gaming commission adopted amendments to 3 gaming regulations viewed as a way to “facilitate entry of new ideas and technologies into Nevada,” according to a memo signed by then-handle board Chairman A.G. Burnett.

He also recommended producers coordinate with the technologies division early in the improvement course of action on how the notion or technologies would match into Nevada’s regulatory structure.

Burnett, now a gaming lawyer with McDonald Carano in Reno, stated the alterations eight years ago “were a very good 1st step” in encouraging communication in between the sector and the regulators.

“The globe has changed,” Burnett stated in an interview. “You quick forward to right now and there is the advent of all types of new gaming goods, and [there are] new entrants into the marketplace that are providing various options for gaming corporations. The corporations want to use these options, but they want to do it speedily.”

Burnett stated the governor and the board had been taking the appropriate measures in reviewing the course of action.

“I’m hopeful the sector and the handle board and commission can come collectively and permit for continued innovation,” he stated.