A Nevada Assembly measure that called for the creation of a "black book" listing poker players banned from the state's regulated online sites has failed to advance from committee. Assembly Bill 380 perished without a vote, missing a cutoff date for new legislation to clear its initial committee hurdle.
In its earliest form, the proposed online-poker black book would have created an equivalent to Nevada's famed black book of people banned from the state's live gambling venues. Executives for Caesars Entertainment, the parent company of WSOP.com the sole regulated online poker site in Nevada at this time, came out against the online black book's creation at an April 5 hearing.
AB 380 was watered down via amendment following that Assembly Judiciary Committee hearing, removing elements that Caesars argued placed the company at risk of undue legal and financial burden. The missed deadline closes the book on the bill, though not likely the larger topic. The transparency issue regarding cheating on the site, as cited by Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager in supporting AB 380, remains unchanged, as does the lack of a channel for legal redress for players who learn they have been cheated by other players on the site.
AB 380's demise received brief coverage in the Nevada Independent, which noted in passing that the measure "would have created a list of people with interactive gaming accounts who have been suspended or banned for cheating." The Nevada Indy also duly noted that Caesars is the only company currently operating an online poker site in Nevada. Roughly half of all bills already submitted for consideration by Nevada legislators in 2023 shared AB 380's deadline-induced fate.
The Nevada Indy also had its own connection to the bill. The news outlet's founder, Jon Ralston, is the husband of Sara Cholhagian Ralston, a pro poker player and former state official who drafted AB 380 in association with several Judiciary Committee members.
