20
Casino City’s
Pocket Gaming Directory
CASINO & GAMING VENDOR LICENSING GUIDE
Casino & Gaming Vendor Licensing
Overview
By Regulatory Management Counselors, P.C.
Companies that have never done business
with casinos or businesses that are looking
to expand their business to new geographic
areas may be surprised to learn that they
must often meet strict and complicated
“licensing”requirements to legally sell goods
or services to a casino. A governmental
body having jurisdiction over regulating
the casino (i.e., the country, state, province,
band or tribe) normally grants these
licenses. Usually, a “gaming control board”
or “gaming commission” is appointed by
the governmental body to handle the
complicated steps involved in granting
licenses.
The vendor licensing section of the
CasinoVendors.comwebsiteincludesaglobal
directory of both regulatory agencies and
gaming licensing and compliance advisors.
In addition, you will find the Licensing by
Jurisdiction section of the website, which
is summarized on the following pages, very
helpful as it provides a broad look at the
various licensing requirements and ongoing
reporting obligations for suppliers/vendors
working with casinos located in various
jurisdictions offering commercial and tribal
casino gaming. This section also includes
links to detailed jurisdictional analyses
summarizing the licensing and reporting
obligations for individual jurisdictions.
The systems of supplier licensing are used as
a method to ensure that unsuitable parties
do not infiltrate the gaming industry and
impact its integrity. Companies wishing to
conduct business with casinos in more than
one jurisdiction face unique challenges
because the requirements vary widely from
state to state. In most jurisdictions, a vendor
can expect to be closely scrutinized to
ensure that its owners and key employees
do not have criminal histories as well as to
ensure the financial viability of the business
applying for a license. Gaming control
authorities typically conduct thorough and
extensive background investigations.
All gaming jurisdictions, however, have
unique and varying approaches to
regulating supplier activity. For example,
almost every state requires a manufacturer
of items specifically for gaming activity to
be licensed and to undergo a suitability
determination. Many states, however, also
require manufacturers or suppliers of non-
gaming related goods or services to also
receive a license before conducting business
with a gaming facility. In addition, some
jurisdictions require suppliers meeting
certain dollar thresholds of business with
casinos, regardless of the product or service,
to become licensed with the state agency.
Thus, even businesses that are supplying
goods or services totally unrelated to the
industry (e.g., carpet suppliers) may need
to take the necessary steps to get licensed.
Because of the disparity between licensing
andother regulatory requirements,a number
of the U.S. gaming regulatory agencies (e.g.,
New Jersey and Nevada) are in the process
of reviewing their regulations in order to
ensure that they are operating effectively
and efficiently in order relieve the industry of
unnecessary regulatory burdens, as well to
keep up with technological advancements.
Any business seeking to enter into a new
market should conduct a jurisdictional
“License Analysis” to verify the licensing
requirements of a particular jurisdiction.
Most jurisdictions have license applications
to be completed and filed with the gaming
control authorities. In many cases, the
owners and employees of the business
seeking licensure will need individual
