Nevada to Consider Lowering the Gambling Age

Annette Obrestad is a professional poker player from Norway and has been playing poker since 2003. In 2006, she won the first ever WSOP Europe Main Event, taking home over $2 million, setting the record for the biggest single-event payout for a female player. A year later, she came in second place in the PokerStars.Com European Poker Tour, earning over $430,000. But Annette cannot sit down at a poker table in Las Vegas, the home of the World Series of Poker. Annette is only twenty. With a September birthday, she will not be eligible to play in the WSOP until 2010. That is, unless the Nevada legislature changes that state's gambling age, something that is apparently being given some consideration.

According to an article in the Las Vegas Sun, the idea of changing the minimum gambling age in Nevada was raised by a gaming industry lawyer in a question-and-answer session with regulators at the gaming law conference sponsored by the State Bar of Nevada held on November 7th.

At this session, State Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander and Nevada Gaming Commission Chairman Peter Bernhard were asked their opinions about changing Nevada's minimum gambling age from 21 to 18. While neither man expressed their personal opinions, the idea was not dismissed out of hand. In fact, Neilander said he would take the suggestion to Steven Horsford, the new Senate majority leader, and Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley. He also indicated that he would meet with the Nevada Legislature when it convenes in February to raise this issue.

At a time when casino revenues in Las Vegas are on track for their largest annual decline, the idea of opening its doors to millions of new customers is intriguing. In Colorado, where the casinos are coming off their worst year since the state legalized gambling 17-years ago, the voters just approved an amendment expanding the hours, games, and limits the casinos can offer. Since Las Vegas already has 24-hour gaming at every imaginable limit, expanding their clientele is the next logical step if they want to increase revenue.

And having a minimum gambling age of 18 is not without precedent in the United States. A number of states allow adults 18 and over to gamble including Alaska, Idaho, Maine, Montana, Minnesota, Ohio, Montana and Rhode Island, in addition to the District of Columbia. Other states have a minimum legal age of 18 at some of their casinos, while maintaining the 21 age minimum at others, such as California, Connecticut, Florida, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon and Washington. In Canada the legal age is either 18 or 19 depending on the province. In the United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Finland, the Czech Republic and most of Europe, the minimum age is 18.

The Nevada legislature has ample reason to consider this move. The teetering economy has hit Las Vegas hard, with the number of tourist coming into town recording its eleventh consecutive monthly decline in September, sinking 13.2 percent from a year earlier. State Budget Director Andrew Clinger is expected present a over $1.2 billion budget shortfall to an advisory council that sets revenue projections for the state. Nevada's year-to-date gambling-related revenues are already off 8.6 percent from an initial forecast, and with the economic news out of Washington getting worse each day, it may be awhile before things get better.

Even with the chance that lowering the minimum age for gambling would result in an uptick in the state's revenue, there is more than just money at the heart of this debate. As Chairman Neilander warned the gambling conference attendees, any proposal to lower the gambling age would undergo "intense scrutiny" from those concerned about problem gambling and underage players. Indeed, when Congress convened a commission to study the impact of gambling back in the late 1990's, one of the first issues raised in the report as a potential problem was that of underage gambling.

In its 1999 report, the National Gambling Impact Study Commission issued a finding that "only those 21 and older should be allowed to gamble," despite the fact the minimum age in many states for certain forms of gambling was 18. "I've always thought 21 should be the legal age," said commission member J. Terrence Lanni, chairman of the board and CEO of MGM Grand Inc. "I think consistency makes a great deal of sense."

But not everyone agrees whether the age should be 21. Using the same argument used in the past to support lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, supporters claim that 18-year-olds already have the legal right to sign contracts, marry, vote, and serve in the military. These adults, the argument goes, should also be entrusted to make other adult decisions such as the decision to gamble.

If the Nevada legislature were convinced that the law should be changed, when they convene next February, it would be a simple matter of them passing a law to change the existing statute that sets the minimum age at 21 and then getting the state's governor to sign it. And, if they act fast enough, maybe Annette Obrestad could come to next year's WSOP and try to break Peter Eastgate's new record and become the youngest player to win the Main Event.

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