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Unclaimed Vouchers Bill Moves to Assembly Floor for Full Vote

Posted on April 16th, 2011

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The state has finally won out in its bid to acquire paper vouchers that are unclaimed by winners who do not bother, given the meager value of their winning tickets. Assembly Bill 219 put forward by Assemblyman William Horne (D-Las Vegas) cleared the committee today prior to closure of the legislative session paving the way for the state to rake in an extra $20 million to $30 million in extra earnings, the current estimate for the total value of unclaimed winning paper vouchers in Nevada. The current system allows casinos to sweep the money under their rugs, absorbing them as extra revenues when in fact they would have been expected to disburse the funds had patrons been more perseverant.

The original version of Assemblyman Horne’s bill required all of the earnings to be fed directly into the state’s coffers but negotiations between casino operators and state legislators led to a concession allowing casinos to keep 25 percent of the earnings. The remaining 75 percent is transferred to the state’s coffers where it will be used to finance various social programs from tax relief to education. The amendment also specifies casinos to declare the remaining 25 percent as taxable earning and most accordingly remit the right tax values else they will be charged. “We’re still negotiating parts of this bill,” said Horne. “I’ve agreed to, while moving it out today, it won’t move out of our house until we make some other final amendments to the bill.”

Negotiations refer to the urging of casino lobbyists who insist Horne should copy the “more equitable” split employed by New Jersey – 75 percent of the earnings go to the casinos while only 25 percent are sent to the state. Responds Horne, “I said I don’t like that, you have to flip it.” Pete Ernaut, chief lobbyist for the Nevada Resort Association hints at a 50-50 split to which Horne expressed doubt that he would be willing to accede to that proposal. Counters Ernaut, “I imagine it’ll end up somewhere between those two points.” Other key points that came out of the discussions involved the Nevada Gaming Commission managing the money transfer from the casinos to the state, a move that would break precedence where the state Treasury normally handles all financial transaction to and from the state’s coffers.

The initiative behind the measure, as proposed by Horne, says that the money is supposedly earmarked by casinos as payment for winning vouchers. In the event that winners choose to not claim their winnings, the money should be considered unclaimed property in which case the state absorbs the right to disburse it. Ernaut simply said, “We also would contend that this does not become the property of the player until it is redeemed.” Horne dismisses these arguments and says, “The opposition, they would like this to be a very complicated issue. In the end, this is a simple case on unclaimed property and who should get it. All the other stuff just muddies the waters and tries to make it more complicated than it actually is.”

Additional revenues are welcome given the sweeping budget cuts coming from the governor’s office. In the same context, progressive groups has also lent their support to Horne in a bid to get as much revenue to the state as possible. Horne chairs the Assembly Judiciary Committee which was responsible for reviewing, hearing and passing the bill. The next step prior to implementation is to put the bill on the Assembly floor for a full vote. The committee also approved a bill that seeks to revise the state’s mobile gaming law. Horne said that casinos provide hand-held gaming devices which grants players the capacity to bet from anywhere in the casino including restaurants, entertainment venues, spas or swimming pools. Senate Bill 294 would further open access to hand-held devices by increasing the number of places where such a device is allowable. The limitation is that the bill would not allow wagering in a hotel room. Said Horne, “Gaming control officials were uncomfortable with hotel room wagering since there would be no supervision of play.”

The increased gaming is expected to generate added revenues for the state.