Las Vegas, Jan 19: The Nevada Gaming Control Board has issued new guidance to licensed gambling operators, urging greater caution when participating in online betting activities outside the state as digital gambling increasingly crosses national borders.
In a five-page notice released late on Friday, the regulator said the rapid expansion of online casinos and platform-based betting has made it harder for companies to navigate differing laws across foreign jurisdictions, increasing the risk of violations of Nevada’s foreign-gaming rules.
The guidance, signed by board chair Mike Dreitzer, is intended to help licensees avoid regulatory breaches that could result in penalties at home, even when activities take place abroad.
“The guidance is designed to help licensees avoid violating Nevada’s foreign-gaming laws, which could lead to penalties in their home state,” Dreitzer said in the memo.
The board said many operators struggle to determine whether online gambling is legal, restricted or prohibited in overseas markets, particularly as business models have evolved. These include companies dealing directly with players, technology and platform providers supplying other operators, and distributors that aggregate and spread game content across multiple partners.
To illustrate the risks, the regulator identified a non-exhaustive list of countries it currently considers prohibited for online gambling activities. These include Australia, China, Cuba, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Thailand. Dreitzer cautioned that the list could change and does not cover all restricted jurisdictions.
“This list is not exhaustive and may change,” he said, adding that licensees remain responsible for monitoring the legal status of each market they enter.
The board also warned companies not to assume that weak or inconsistent enforcement in a jurisdiction means gambling activities are permitted. Instead, operators were urged to carry out their own legal due diligence, consult internal compliance teams and, when uncertainty persists, seek guidance from the board’s Investigations Division.
For business-to-business and aggregator arrangements, the notice said companies may rely on a partner’s legal analysis only if specific contractual safeguards are in place.
The guidance outlined several warning signs that a market may be off-limits, including explicit bans on online gambling, enforcement actions against operators or players, and technical barriers such as domain blocking or payment restrictions. Given how quickly laws can change, the board advised licensees to reassess the legality of all jurisdictions in which they operate at least every two years.
While the board did not cite a specific incident prompting the advisory, the move underscores heightened regulatory caution as cross-border online gambling continues to grow.
