Handheld gambling approved in Nevada

• It won't be long before gamblers are shooting dice while queued up waiting to see their favorite comedian.
• Even a trip to the buffet will no longer keep casino patrons from playing slots.
• A law signed last month by Gov.
• Kenny Guinn made Nevada the first U.S. state to approve the use of wireless, handheld gambling devices at its hotel-casinos.
• "I think every major casino company wants to get into online gaming but without access to the U.S. market it becomes a costly venture," said Deutsche Bank gambling analyst Marc Falcone Story continues below?
• Under the law, the devices can be used only in public areas of casinos that have 100 or more slot machines and that offer at least one other gambling game.
• Dennis Neilander, the State Gaming Control Board chairman, says it will be several months to a year before regulators set rules for using the handhelds.
• One force behind the bill is Cantor Fitzgerald LP, the New York-based financial services company that suffered mightily in the 2001 attacks and is seeking to retreat for the gambling industry the technology that powers its interactive bond-trading.
• Another backer was Louisiana-based Diamond I Inc., which has developed its own device.
• "The tech-savvy generation, the late baby boomers and the next generation all grew up with a Nintendo in their hands.
• Everyone has a PDA," said David Loflin, president of Diamond I Inc. "This is an extension of that."
• The world's No. 1 slot machine maker, Reno-based International Game Technology, also pushed for legalizing the wireless gambling.
• "Nevada is the first state to have a bill to allow this.
• Once Nevada does it, you'll see the New Jerseys and the Mississippis do the same thing," Loflin predicted.