Casinos unscathed in bill

Two members of Nevada's congressional delegation are claiming credit for protecting the gaming industry when the House approved a bankruptcy reform bill Wednesday.

But it appears their jobs were easy this year compared to last year's bankruptcy reform debate.

In 1998, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-New York, offered amendments opposed by the gaming industry to the bankruptcy bill that eventually failed. He did not offer those amendments in this year's version of the House bankruptcy reform bill, which passed Wednesday on a vote of 313-108.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and then-Congressman John Ensign battled with Nadler in last year's legislative session and the proposals were killed. They would have banned ATMs from casinos and forgiven debts to casinos.

This year, Gibbons and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., were ready to fight Nadler again. But he didn't even offer an amendment this time around.

"He evidently had other priorities," said Wally Chalmers, vice president of the American Gaming Association and one of the AGA's lobbyists. "Last year, he had about 20 different amendments to the bankruptcy bill, including the debt forgiveness proposal, that he was using to derail this big train, as he put it."

Chalmers credited Gibbons and Berkley, who personally asked Nadler not to propose the anti-gaming amendments, with protecting the interests of the state and the gaming industry during the bankruptcy reform debate.

A spokesman for Nadler could not confirm that Gibbons and Berkley were responsible for Nadler not introducing the amendments harmful to casinos.

Joel Finkelstein, press secretary to Nadler, said the ATM ban proposal is rooted in preventing the extension of credit in a readily available place to people who have a shown a weakness in managing their credit.

"In addition, these people were being extended credit at huge interest rates," Finkelstein said. "The congressman was trying to protect people from getting deeper and deeper in debt."

Chalmers responded that ATMs on a casino floor are a convenience to customers, just as they are a convenience to customers who use ATMs at malls and other establishments.

Berkley said she appealed to Nadler with a common-sense approach to ATM usage and said she explained why his amendments would be particularly detrimental to Nevada.

"The anti-gaming amendment would have meant gaming debts were not collectible in bankruptcy filings," Berkley said. "Not only is this bad for Nevada's No. 1 business, it sends the wrong message about personal responsibility. Declaring bankruptcy shouldn't simply be a way of dodging debts and duties, and people who do pay their bills on time shouldn't pick up the slack for people who don't."

Gibbons also said personal responsibility is at the core of the issue.

"Our delegation worked as a united, bipartisan team to kill this ill-conceived idea," Gibbons said. "We effectively educated our respective party members on the problems with Nadler's plan. If this proposal had become law, it would have created a burdensome restriction on casino customers.

"Nadler's proposal insults responsible customers by restricting their access to their own money that they are going to use for their own choice of entertainment," Gibbons said.

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