NEVADA NIXES REGULATION 6A IN LEIU OF PATRIOT ACT

For years, Nevada has been the only state following large cash transactions. With the passage of the Patriot Act, however, the state's 21-year old Regulation 6A has become a moot burden. In response, the Nevada Gaming Commission held its second (and final) public hearing last week on the removal of the regulation. In less than 10 minutes, regulators eliminated the money laundering rule, which will still remain in effect until June 30 of next year.

"It's appropriate we take this action, but it's also important to note that Regulation 6A has been very valuable and served the state well for a long period of time," Gaming Commission Chairman Pet Bernhard told Gaming Wire in Las Vegas.

The change should allow agents to focus on other tasks, the Gaming Control Board said, like shortening the time the audit division takes to handle taxation audits.

"I agree that this change will give us more man hours for people to do other important functions," Commissioner Art Marshall said. "If the feds want to (handle money laundering issues), then we're happy to let them do it."

Under Regulation 6A, casinos must track cash transactions of $3,000 or more. Customers whose cash transactions go over $10,000 must be reported to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The reporting threshold covers casinos with $10 million or more in annual gaming revenue.

The Patriot Act, passed in 2001 and renewed in March of this year, lowers the threshold to cover casinos with $1 million or more in revenue. The Act alters Title 31 of the Bank Secrecy Act, classifying casinos as financial institutions. Effectively this puts regulation of large cash transactions under the scrutiny of the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Gaming Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said efforts to inform casino audit departments of the new federal requirements are under way, as the Las Vegas International Gaming Institute, the Internal Revenue Service and the University of Nevada have been contacted about developing educational programs on the subject.

"We know this is going to be a bit of a burden to some licensees, but we're going to try to make this as smooth a transition as possible," Neilander said.

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