It's a law that's been on the books since legalized gambling began in Nevada: A person must be 21 years of age to gamble. But now, there are some who want the law changed.
The question whether or not to change the legal gambling age came from a Las Vegas attorney. News 3's Dan Ball spoke to him regarding this controversial subject and surprisingly, people's opinions are mixed.
Some believe that if you can smoke, vote, marry, and go to war, you should be able to gamble. And then there are some who say 18 is just too young and that teens won't know when to fold.
Tom Smock is an attorney who has worked in the gaming industry for years. Last week, he suggested to the Nevada Gaming Board and Gaming Commission that they take a look at reducing the legal gambling age from 21 to 18.
"If Nevada wants to stay competitive internationally, we need to take a look if we've set the bar at the appropriate age," claims Smock. "We ought to look beyond cutting costs and we ought to look at how we can drive additional revenue. And one way is to increase the player base."
Smock points out that in California and Arizona, along with other international gaming destinations like Mexico, Canada, and Australia, the legal age to gamble is 18.
"The issue to me is they're adults. In this state at least, if you're 18, there's not too many things you can't do. You can get married, have babies, buy cigarettes, buy guns, drive cars."
The MGM-Mirage Corporation's Alan Feldman opposes the idea.
"Simply put, this is a bad idea. Within our industry, we've adopted the America Gaming Associations Code of Conduct, which specifically talks about maintaining the gambling age at 21."
Feldman says there have been numerous scientific studies completed which prove that the legal age of gambling should remain at 21.
"What this ends up doing is creating a class of players that are not acting responsibly, and that creates a class of players you don't want to have."
On the Las Vegas Strip, gambler's opinions on this idea vary:
"I think it's a good idea. I think 18 you can vote. You're an adult. You should be able to gamble."
"I think 18 is to young to start gambling."
"I think if you're 18, you're old enough. You're old enough to serve in the military, old enough to gamble, old enough to vote."
"The only reason you're going to lower it is to generate more cash, more money, more revenue. And I don't think that's good."
State Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander has said that the board neither supports nor opposes the idea, and will take the suggestion to the state legislature for them to decide whether or not to move forward.
