Gambling While Stoned is Now Illegal in Las Vegas
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Las Vegas (Vegas), It may be known as Sin City, but there are some rules in Las Vegas. Nevada has announced measures to ban anyone stoned on cannabis from using roulette wheels, card tables, or one-armed bandits. The gambling regulating body of Las Vegas, The Nevada Gaming Commission, updated its gambling-while-intoxicated laws to include cannabis. The ban prohibits anyone visibly intoxicated from gambling. Purchasing cannabis in Las Vegas is legal, however consuming it anywhere in Las Vegas legally is almost impossible. In fact, if you are caught smoking in public or in a hotel behind closed doors if could cost you a $600 dollar fine.
Tony Alamo, the chairman of the Gaming Commission stated that “It’s not smart to allow impaired people to gamble”. He continues to state that the newly amended law applies to not only those who drink alcohol or smoking cannabis but to anyone intoxicated and impaired by drugs.
As for how a stoned gambler will be spotted, well, this seems to be open to interpretation. For the time being there are no simple, accurate ways of verifying whether someone is high on weed or not. Apparently, the staff is going to receive specialized training that will help them spot a stoner amoung the casino clientele. It’s all a bit ‘Reefer Madness’.
The term intoxicated is also a somewhat broad term that is subject to interpretation. It will certainly be interesting to see how these new regulations pan out going forward. They may even inform regulation and rules in another part of the country.
This newly amended law is clearly for good intentions for the public, however “intoxicated” is a biased and broad term. So how do you go about judging one’s behavior? and How can proper testing methods be applied? It’s also extraordinarily difficult to determine if someone is high from cannabis than it is from someone who is drinking alcohol.
