After industry stalwarts like Steve McLoughin and David Gzesh sounded the alarmabout Senate Bill 40 in Nevada, which could have outlawed poker staking, the Chairman of the Nevada Gaming Control Board, AG Burnett (pictured), clarified the bill’s intentions on Wednesday. In an email that appeared on Pokerfuse, Burnett said, “I’ve seen a couple articles on the Board’s bill regarding certain types of wagers. Just to clarify, this isn’t a poker bill. It is solely related to sports betting only.”

There you have it.

Gzesh, a gaming attorney, told PocketFives on Wednesday, “The clarification from Burnett should be sufficient to give assurance to poker players and stakers that it doesn’t cover poker staking with respect to Nevada activities like the WSOP. The outcome is good for this bill. I think Burnett acted promptly to address the problem.”

Gzesh and McLoughlin, from Max Value Software, were unconcerned about SB 40 passing with its existing language. The latter told us, “You’ll have a legislative history and statements of intent. I think any violation of the bill would defer to the state regulatory agency first and if there’s nothing contrary in the legislative history, I wouldn’t be worried.”

Even if the bill had passed and poker would have been affected, Gzesh (pictured) reminded us, “The industry is pretty adaptive and there would have been ways to get the activities licensed or work under an existing licensee to provide staking services. This was not a direct slam against poker staking. It was more of an unintended effect that has been cleared up. I’m happy that the Gaming Control Board looks at forums, looks at social media, and acts accordingly.”

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